The kid in this photo raised the bar and made it difficult for anyone coming behind him to compete. He wasn’t just any ol’ entertainer, he became a legend who created a unique style all of his own, that has yet to be duplicated by anyone else…it was that unique. He was born and raised in Chi-town, he’s often talked about his kids and wife of 31 years, and he’s had success in television, film, and on stage.
Who’s The Legend?
It’s the late, great Bernie “I ain’t scared of you motherf%@*ers” Mac! If we would have said that he was a comedian, it probably would have been WAY too easy to figure out, because as you can see, Bernie didn’t look that much different from his childhood photo. Although Bernie sadly had to make his grand exit from this earth at the very young age of 50, his legacy is still thriving due to all of the hard work the brotha laid throughout his career.
Mac passed away on August 9, 2008, after suffering from complications from sarcoidosis, a rare auto-immune disease that causes major swelling in the tissues and makes the sufferer more prone to illnesses like pneumonia, which is what Bernie ultimately passed away from.
Little Known Old School Facts About Bernie Mac
WIFE FILED WRONGFUL DEATH LAWSUIT- Bernie Mac’s wife, Rhonda, filed a wrongful death lawsuit in 2010 against Bernie’s longtime doc, dermatologist Rene Earles. Rhonda and her attorney said Dr. Earles’ failed to recognize Bernie’s signs of respiratory distress as he was sitting in Dr. Earles’ office for a treatment. Three weeks later, Mac died from pneumonia. Rhonda claimed that instead of calling an ambulance to take Mac to the hospital on that day, Dr. Earles kept him at his clinic for several hours.
In Jan. 2015 Rhonda dropped the lawsuit and her attorney asked the judge to leave open the option to re-file it within one year. It was speculated that they dropped it because in 2010 Dr. Earles’ practice allegedly didn’t have any malpractice insurance coverage (it isn’t required in the state of Illinois), which means Rhonda and her fam’ would have only been able to collect very little financial compensation. But now that Earles has malpractice insurance, Rhonda and her family will be able to win the full compensation they feel they deserve for Bernie’s death.
THE BERNIE MAC FOUNDATION- Bernie Mac’s life didn’t just include his work in comedy, TV, and film, but before he passed away, he dedicated his life and his celebrity to bringing awareness and hopefully finding a cure for the disease that ultimately claimed his life with his Bernie Mac Foundation. Now the foundation is headed by his wife, Rhonda. You can visit them at www.berniemacfoundation.org and follow them on Twitter at @BernieMacFNDN and on their Bernie Mac Foundation Facebook page.
BERNIE MAC’S WIFE SPOKE TO OPRAH ABOUT WHAT LIFE IS LIKE NOW- On March 12th, 2016, the OWN network aired Where Are They Now, featuring Bernie’s wife Rhonda. Here is a snippet of what she had to day…
BERNIE MAC RAISED HIS SISTER’S KIDS AFTER HER DRUG ADDICTION- Bernie Mac and his wife have one biological child, Je’Niece, but after Bernie’s sister began battling a drug addiction back in the day, he stepped up and took her kids in, raising them as his own. He often joked about the difficulties of doing so in his stand up routines and his TV sitcom, The Bernie Mac Show, was loosely based around his real life reality of raising his sister’s kids.
BERNIE MAC STREET- In 2012 the Chicago neighborhood he came up in officially named a street after him, just blocks away from his childhood home. His wife and daughter were in attendance of the street naming, along with Rev. Jesse Jackson and others.
Although many of us didn’t hear about Bernie until either the early 90’s on Def Comedy Jam, or in 2000 on ‘The Original Kings of Comedy’ tour, he had been professionally doing his thing on the comedy circuit since 1977, which explains why he was so seasoned by the time the world got hipped to him.
