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"My family lost the first of the next generation of us"
Octavia Spencer is in mourning after the tragic passing of her oldest nephew.
The "Hidden Figures" star took to Instagram to share the sudden death of her family member on Tuesday and asked her friends and followers for their prayers.
"Grief. You wouldn’t know it by this picture that today was the second worst day of my life," she began her caption alongside a photo of pink flowers. "My family lost the first of the next generation of us, and we're gutted."
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She continued, "Grief is the most terrifying of emotions because I can't laugh my way out of it. I have to feel. Right now, I'm feeling for my sister who lost her only son. Her only child. If you're praying people, pray for her and my brother in law. I also ask for privacy as we deal with this tremendous loss."
Just six days before, the Oscar Award winning actress celebrated her 52nd birthday via Instagram but marked the occasion as "bittersweet" after the tragic mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas and Buffalo, New York earlier this month.
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"Thank you all for the outpouring of well wishes and love on my 50th (IMBD age 😉) birthday. It's bittersweet. This picture was taken on my actual birthday. Some friends stopped by to surprise me with balloons and the wind took them to a neighbor's tree. The good Lord knew we needed the laugh considering the terrifying week."
She reflected on the "apathy" towards tragedies as a result of gun violence in the nation and voiced her thoughts on legislation to regulate gun control. "The tragedies in Buffalo and Uvalde are emblematic of a greater problem in this nation: apathy. We've become desensitized to the evil genie that is gun violence."
"Clearly, the genie is out of the bottle but it can be stopped. How? Well, we have to take its power!! A genie with no magic is just a puff of smoke. Change the damn gun laws. My thoughts and prayers are with those who lost family members this week," Spencer concluded.
