Celebrity News August 18, 2023
Chris Peluso, Broadway Actor, Dies at 40
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Broadway is mourning the loss of Chris Peluso, who died suddenly on August 15.
His family confirmed the 40-year-old’s death to Playbill, noting he is survived by his wife Jessica Gomes and their two young children, Aria Li and Caio Lian.
Chris was a University of Michigan alum, and the school’s musical theater department remembered him on Instagram.
Linda Goodrich, the interim chair, wrote, “The Michigan Musical Theatre family is heartbroken as we announce the passing of our dear family member/alum, the loving, charismatic, and divinely gifted Chris Peluso… Our hearts go out to his family.”
Sharing some of his most notable roles, she wrote, “Chris appeared on Broadway in MAMMA MIA!, ASSASSINS, LESTAT, THE GLORIOUS ONES, and BEAUTIFUL, played Fiyero on tour in WICKED, and starred in London in MISS SAIGON and SHOWBOAT.”
The news of Peluso’s death comes one year after Chris stepped away from acting to undergo treatment for schizoaffective disorder.
According to the Mayo Clinic, it is “a mental health disorder that is marked by a combination of schizophrenia symptoms, such as hallucinations or delusions, and mood disorder symptoms, such as depression or mania.”
In September, his friends started a GoFundMe campaign to help with his mental-health treatments and raised more than $25,000.
They wrote, “Chris's mental health has affected every aspect of his life. In recent months, the paranoia has consumed him to the extent that he is unable to work any job and has had to leave his wife and young child and return to America to seek treatment. Chris has no health care insurance in the U.S. and was recently hospitalized for about two weeks. Currently, he is seeking treatment at an inpatient mental health rehabilitation center.”
Peluso gave supporters an update in November, writing, “Hi guys! Thanks so much again for your incredible generosity! I’m very pleased to say that I completed the in-patient treatment facility in Tennessee and have been stable and doing well! The new medication I’m on works well to keep my symptoms in check and has minimal side effects. I’m able to hold down a job again and even began taping some auditions. It’s going to be a life long process of going to therapy and working with doctors but I’m so much better than I was before treatment. It really means the world to me to have such incredible support from you all. None of this progress would have been possible without you.”
