Less than one month ago, The Wire and John Wick star Lance Reddick collapsed at his home and was later pronounced dead at age 60. On Thursday, TMZ reported that Reddick’s cause of death, via the actor’s death certificate, was “Ischemic Heart Disease as well as Atherosclerotic Coronary Artery Disease.” Within hours of that report, PEOPLE relayed a statement from Reddick’s family attorney, James Hornstein, and on behalf of his wife, Stephanie, the statement disputes the coroner’s listed cause of death on the certificate.
It further follows from the family, via Hornstein, that the Coroner’s statement “is not a result of an autopsy” because “[n]o autopsy was performed on Lance.” Hornstein also declared that he had no knowledge of heart or coronary disease ever surfacing in Lance’s medical history. That final detail wouldn’t rule out the possibility of heart disease (nor would being as physically fit as Reddick appeared to be), but with no autopsy being performed and Reddick reportedly being cremated, the subject is a complicated one. Hornstein supplied more information via Reddick’s family and PEOPLE:
“Lance was the most physically fit person I’ve ever known. He exercised daily at his home gym, including extensive cardio work, and the availability of gym facilities was a contractual requirement for his work away from home. He ate as if a dietician was monitoring his every meal. The information appearing on the death certificate is wholly inconsistent with his lifestyle.”
Upon initial reports of Reddick’s death, TMZ relayed law enforcement’s word that the actor appeared to have died from natural causes. Mere days later on the John Wick 4 red carpet, co-star Keanu Reeves got choked up over his good friend’s passing and declared, “It f*cking sucks that he’s not here.”
(Via PEOPLE)