Don Cornelius, the creator of ‘Soul Train’, died on Wednesday. The late “Soul Train” creator Don Cornelius had been unhappy about some things that had gone on in his life and his health, his son Tony Cornelius said Thursday.
The day he shot himself dead, Cornelius called him, Tony Cornelius told “CBS This Morning” anchor Gayle King Thursday.
“It was a call of urgency, and I came to his home immediately,” Tony Cornelius told King, although he did not say whether he was the one to find the body.
Police were called to Don Cornelius’ Los Angeles home Wednesday morning and found him with an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. He was taken to Cedars Sinai Hospital, where has pronounced dead. He was 75.
There was no suicide note.
His son, a friend of Gayle King’s, said, “He had been very unhappy about things that had gone on in his life and his health.”
Tony Cornelius, who worked alongside his father, didn’t reveal specifics of what troubled Don.
Don Cornelius had suffered serious health problems, and in 2009 went through a bitter, and costly divorce.
“My father was extremely private,” his son said. “Unfortunately, when you’re a private person, you keep things inside.”
He said it was hard to imagine how badly his father felt.
“Me, being extremely close to him, I could tell he was uncomfortable,” Tony Cornelius said.
Asked to describe his dad, Tony said what came to mind was “a guy who really, really worked hard at being a professional. He taught me everything I know about TV, TV production, and he just really wanted to serve.”
He said his father wanted equality.
“I think his legacy will be that he really worked on the fine points,” Tony Cornelius told CBS This Morning. “He always taught me it’s the fine points that count.”
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