For Some Reason, Everyone Thinks Disney Legend Annette Funicello Just Died Again

The celebrity death hoax is something that is extremely hard to handle as many people believe everything they read on the Internet, and to think their favorite personality has died can be heartbreaking. 2016 has already taken so many lives and the year is merely two-weeks-old. For some reason though, Annette Funicello’s death notice has gone viral and she passed away back in 2013, but everyone thinks it just happened.

Alan Rickman, David Bowie, and a handful of other celebrities have already lost their lives in 2016, but Annette Funicello isn’t one of them. She sadly passed away at the age of 70 on April 8, 2013. Now, her death notice is circulating again and a lot of people are sharing it as if she just died.

One of the articles being shared comes from a site called Health Cure Portal and it announces the death of Annette Funicello and how she lost her long battle to multiple sclerosis. The loss of the Disney legend and original Mousketeer on The Mickey Mouse Club brought sadness and tributes from around the world.

Now, many are mourning her death yet again due to the site which has actually totally copied the original article from People. Not just copied a few words either, but the entire article from start to finish.

The article from Health Cure Portal has a date of January 11, 2016, but never specifies a date on which Funicello died. Now, the article has a link at the very end of it that simply says “Source Link” and links to an article on a website called Health of Women.

That article is dated January 1, 2016, and is also an exact duplication of the People article on Annette Funicello’s death in April of 2013.

Believe it or not, this happens more often than you may think, and people simply fail to check out the true facts. They read an article that is being passed around, take it as gospel as they may not have known the original information, and then share it as well.

Other times, they only read the headline and don’t realize the truth or further story behind it, and then put it on social media. Before you know it, people are on every form of social media and mourning the death of a celebrity…again.

2016 is not a good year to be a celebrity, all the good ones are dying! #DavidBowie #AnnetteFunicello #AlanRickman #ReneAngelil

— Helen Escott (@hescott) January 15, 2016

Ugh mortality sucks at times. R.I.P. #DanHaggerty and #AnnetteFunicello, your talents made my childhood memorable.

— Ginger Condon (@MeWhoElseButMe) January 15, 2016

Yes, Grizzly Adams star Dan Haggerty did just die at the age of 74, as reported by TMZ. Rene Angelil, David Bowie, and Alan Rickman have also tragically passed away in the early days of 2016, and while sad that Funicello is gone, she didn’t die this year.

Last year, a lot of people began passing around the story of Rue McClanahan’s death and mourning her loss. People were posting tributes and remembering their favorite Golden Girls moments, but no-one stopped to pay attention to the fact that the woman known as “Blanche” died back in 2010.

Those that pass around the information or articles are not necessarily at fault for this news spreading and becoming viral again. Sometimes, they just don’t know the truth and see the tragic news and want others to know it as well.

For the sites that give no explanation though and just start passing around the information as new, there is a lot of fault that lies with them. 2016 has already seen the passing of numerous celebrities and it’s been a sad year already. The loss of Annette Funicello is a very sad one and she is truly missed, but that happened almost three years ago now.

[Image via George Rose/Getty Images]