The Tragic Death Of DJ AM

It's a cliché that musicians lead tragic lives. However, the death of DJ AM is undeniably worse than any rumored curses, and one of the saddest personal stories within Hollywood.

DJ AM was born Adam Michael Goldstein in 1973. As a young child, he suffered from verbal abuse from his father, reports the Las Vegas Sun, and ended up with the emotional ramifications of the abuse later in his life. One of Adam's coping mechanisms was binge eating, and his fluctuating weight often led him to turn to yo-yo dieting.

However, a more dangerous coping mechanism was drug use. After getting noticed in the deejaying scene, joining the band Crazy Town, and embarking on his own solo career, Adam found himself in a group of hard drug users. Once he was 20 years old, Adam confessed in an interview in Glamour that "all" that he did "over four years" was abuse cocaine. But despite the drugs and musical success, he was still severely depressed. At one point, he was so unhappy that he attempted to commit suicide; however, the gun jammed after he pulled the trigger.

Adam said that he was so distraught after his suicide attempt that he called a friend he had met once at recovery meeting; it ended up being the turning point in his life. He decided to become sober and ended up being an inspiration in the music community for beating his addictions.

Though Adam had successfully fought against his addictions for years, there was one major life event that appeared to push him over the edge. In September of 2008, Adam boarded a small Los Angeles-bound plane with Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker.

Due to issues with the tire pressure, the tires ended up exploding during takeoff, with rubber from the objects hitting the plane and causing the brakes to fail. When the pilot attempted to abort the takeoff, he could not stop the plane and ended up crashing into an embankment. Four of the six passengers on the jet died, with Travis and Adam managing to survive, albeit with major third-degree burns over their bodies.

While recuperating from his injuries, Adam was given several pain-relieving and anti-anxiety drugs. The dual combination of medication and trauma from the horrific accident ended up being too much for Adam to handle, and he sadly descended back into his narcotics abuse after 11 years of sobriety. He ended up overdosing just shy of a year after the crash. "He was struggling with some very severe depression and survivor's guilt," explained BJ Hickman, an intervention expert who worked with Adam.

"I think the plane crash killed him," echoed friend Justin Hoffman to The New York Times. "It just took a year for it to do it."