Don Cornelius with Viktoria Chapman Cornelius at the 3rd Annual 'TV Land Awards (March 13, 2005)' - Arrivals - held in the Barker Hangar at Santa Monica airport Santa Monica, California
*Tony Cornelius, the son of late “Soul Train” founder Don Cornelius, says nothing had suggested to him or to friends that his father was suicidal.
“He was not feeling well so it’s really hard to say why my dad decided he had had enough,” Cornelius’s son told The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s just one of those things. You just never know what someone is thinking. I can tell you due to health, things like divorce and relationships, there’s all kinds of things that may trigger a reaction like that. But as his son, as one who was really close, I can’t tell you [why].”
Don Cornelius, 75, who launched Soul Train in 1970 with $400 from his own pocket, died Feb. 1 of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound. Tony Cornelius (pictured below), who had worked with his father on various aspects of the franchise for about 15 years, says his father did not seem deeply despondent. “There were no signs of anything like that,” he said. “Many people can tell you they spoke to him, they talked to him, he was smiling when they saw him.”
RELATED: The Mysterious Conductor of ‘Soul Train’
In 2009, Don Cornelius was divorced from his second wife, Russian model Viktoria Chapman Cornelius, whom he had married in 2001. The previous year, he was arrested on charges of domestic violence and was placed on a 36-month probation, ordered to complete a 52-week domestic battery violence treatment, perform 300 hours of community service and stay 100 yards away from where the alleged attack took place. The probation period had ended recently. Tony declined to comment on that episode in his father’s life other than to say, “I think divorce is something that hurts everyone.”
But the main issue, he believes, was health. His father had sold the Soul Train franchise in 2008 and while he may have found it hard to let go of the property, he was satisfied overall with the way the new owner, InterMedia, was handling the property, Cornelius said.
RELATED: Lee Bailey and Steven Ivory Remember Don Cornelius (Audio)
“When it comes to the industry, he had done everything he wanted to do. He had been everywhere he wanted to be,” he said. “There was nothing he had not experienced. The factor that I would say, as his son, that really hurt him would be his health. My father had an aneurysm 15 or 20 years ago. When you’re struck with that kind of problem, it affects other parts of your body. He could get around well [but] he was frustrated by his health.”
A remembrance is planned for February 17, although the place and the guest list have not been finalized.
RELATED: Watch Don Cornelius Boogie Down the ‘Soul Train’ Line (Video)
“The more I’m away from all this, the more I look at it as a celebration [of his father's life],” Cornelius said. “There are packages being produced on every station and the internet, all around the world, about the things he developed. It’s a situation where even younger people who never got a chance to see ‘Soul Train’ are being introduced to a world that they didn’t get to experience.”
Tony Cornelius also said he wants to create a foundation in his father’s name to help others who are struggling. “There are quite a few kids that are committing suicide,” he said. “Many times out of tragedy comes help.”
Tony Cornelius
Once again, my condolences to you and your Fam. Glad to “hear” from a family member about the death. Take comfort that the WORLD will never forget him.
So he had problems who the phuck doesn’t? He went out like a punk ass bitch!
@khansmam, U are real classy.
I agree olskool, I would whether hear a family member speak on an issue instead of outsiders who thought they knew him best. I saw a live interview with Tony and he pretty much said what is in print. Thanks again Don Cornelius, I rode the “train” from childhood to adulthood and it was a stone gas…..
Classy or not he still we out like a punk. I respect what he accomplished with ST however this puts a stain on his legacy.
Look we didn’t know him ,at least I didn’t.
I heard that he had 21 hour life saving brain surgery,21 hours, back in 1983.He never felt the same after that,he said.
He was said to be in the beginning stages of either dementia or alzheimer’s disease(I’ve heard both mentioned).Does anyone know if these problems had to do with his actions.Some also thought he was bipolar,if he was and it went untreated , could this be the result?
What I’m saying is you are assuming something and you dont know a darn thing about how brain surgery he had 24 years ago(when the medical profession wasnt as sophitiscated as today) could have affected him,so you should show restraint on the negativity.
should be 29 years ago
wow…didn’t realize Don C. had sold the franchise. i thought he still owned it. …and I agree, nylaconnect. I don’t believe that his mind was entirely stable.
I agree that I don’t think he was completely mentally stable. I first figured he was suffering from depression when I read about how he divorced his second wife and he’s coming up in age possibly alone and having “health issues”. But…..I certainly think it’s unfortunate that he did choose this route because in fact I do think it stains his legacy and also to be frank, maybe the way I perceived him to be a “together” and sensible person, I couldn’t imagine he take the route that many of the musicians he has interviewed throughout his life has taken through substance abuse/overdose or health issues related to past substance abuse or also in the same fashion as he has done to himself. But….what can you say after this? Tragic.
Tony my condolence to you and your family..as someone who suffers with depression I truly
understand…..Godspeed Don and thanks for the ride on the Sooooooooooooul Train it was a
stone.gas honey!!!
I went to a father’s group in Texas (just north of Fort Hood) where some ex-military west pointer gave some real eye-opening comments. He basically said that the current Divorce process, legislation, court system and military is all one scheme that was put in play around early 1960‘s. It was put in place for the Vietnam War, that’s when the divorce’s started to sky-rocket across the country (Google statistics). That in addition it was also designed to be one huge cash-cow to lure greedy lawyers to facilitate and destroy more families on the civilian side to get enough statistics to make it comparable to the military statistics. However the military numbers are still much higher. That is why they then modified the scheme to use on police nationwide to raise the civilian stats. It is designed to send single male soldiers to war and deny ex-wives any financial support that was initially and may still be coming from the military/ pentagon’s money pockets. To the military, the soldiers wives are expendable as are the soldiers and also their children! Less money the military spends on wives, kids, ex-soldiers, etc the less they have for their drones, guns, or bullets. The scheme is very very complicated but based on very slow very subtle psy-ops brainwashing tactics. He said that any Freedom of Information request will gradually reveal key pieces of data that when analyzed together with confirm all this. This the reason why the pentagon does not want to release documents related to divorce. Part of the even bigger Military-Industrial complex.
Basically makes wives and soldier fight and hate each other. The scheme basically exploits women’s emotional traits to spread itself to other victims. The media contributes to the fear mongering and makes things worst. Fear (PTSD etc) makes women fear for their safety thus they then go pleading to the oh so willing authorities who provide them with military issued cookie cutter divorce packets to take to a civilian lawyer. They do this to hide where the process initially starts. So basically the NWO Government Is Behind This One Too