The death of celebrities or media figures have a pronounced effect on their fans, Kansas State University cognitive psychologist Richard Harris believes.
Even though people don´t really interact with media characters, they develop a relationship with them. Harris mentions the characters from the TV series "Friends".
"Many people have probably spent more time with the characters on ´Friends´ than they have with most of their real-life friends," he claims. However, the loss of a celebrity has a clear difference between the loss of a family member.
