Irish stand-up star and BBC TV quiz show panellist Sean Hughes has died aged 51, from a heart attack after going into cardiac arrest following a flare up of cirrhosis of the liver. He had previously spoken about his declining health after years of “extreme hedonism” with heavy drinking and amphetamine use; and said he’d would not want to grow old. He never married or had children. All that humour and all that angst, how sad.
He was born in London on 10 November 1965 but moved to live with his grandmother from the age of six in Ireland. He had an emotionally intense and dreamy (and addictive prone) Sun Neptune in Scorpio sextile an exact Uranus Pluto in Virgo. That latter opposed Saturn in Pisces square Mercury perhaps opposition a Gemini Moon. His Mars in colourful Sagittarius was square Uranus Pluto. A high proportion of Mutable planets would make him highly-strung and his Mercury squaring both Saturn and Uranus Pluto, would give him a good deal of mental turmoil and a depressive streak.
It is almost a cliché that comedians, especially stand-ups are tortured souls but a fair number of them seem to be – Robin Williams, Tony Hancock, Spike Milligan, Peter Cook, John Cleese, Stephen Fry, Ruby Wax, Jack Dee, Caroline Aherne, David Walliams have all spoken of the emotional struggles against darkness inside them.