DJ AM Found Dead
Adam "DJ AM" Goldstein, the nightclub disk jockey who not one year ago narrowly escaped death in a jet crash, was found dead in his New York apartment. He was 36.
Initial reports hint at a drug overdose; anonymous sources tell both the New York Post and TMZ that drug paraphernalia was found next to Goldstein's body in his Lafayette Street apartment.
On September 19, 2008, Goldstein and former Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker were critically injured in a Learjet crash in South Carolina. Four other people, including the pilot, copilot and two passengers, died in the incident. Second- and third-degree burns to Goldstein's hands and head required three surgeries. In the weeks after the incident, Goldstein told People magazine he was coping with the trauma one day at a time.
A decade or so earlier, Goldstein had attempted suicide amid a struggle with drug addiction before entering recovery and maintaining a sober life for close to 10 years. He also struggled with obesity from a young age and eventually had gastric bypass surgery.
Press accounts have referenced DJ AM's Twitter stream, where the last entry, dated Tuesday, is a reference to a Grandmaster Flash song, reading, "New York, New York. Big city of dreams, but everything in New York ain't always what it seems."
Goldstein had an on-again, off-again relationship with singer Mandy Moore and was once engaged to reality TV star Nicole Richie.
(Pic: Goldstein in June, at the launch of the videogame DJ Hero. Getty.)