Author Anne Rice died Saturday. She was
80.
Christopher Rice, an out author,
announced his mother's death on social media.
“This is Anne's son Christopher and
it breaks my heart to bring you this sad news,” Christoper Rice
wrote on his mother's Facebook page. “Earlier tonight, Anne passed
away due to complications resulting from a stroke.”
Anne Rice was best known for her
Vampire Chronicles series. The series debuted in 1976 with Interview
With the Vampire. The book was turned into a 1994 movie starring
Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise. Over the next four decades, Rice added 12
books to the series, ending with Blood Communion: A Tale of Prince
Lestat in 2018. AMC is developing a television franchise based on
Rice's gothic horror novels, starting with Interview With the
Vampire, which is expected to arrive next year.
Anne Rice's late husband, Stan Rice, an
artist and poet, died in 2002.
“She left us almost nineteen years to
the day my father, her husband Stan, died,” Christoper Rice wrote.
“The immensity of our family's grief cannot be overstated.”
Christoper Rice said that he was at his
mother's bedside when she died.
“I sat beside her hospital bed in awe
of her accomplishments and her courage,” he said.
He added that a public celebration of
his mother's life will take place next year in New Orleans.
Anne Rice, who was raised Catholic,
devoted a decade to exclusively writing Christian-themed novels. She
left organized religion in 2010 over its support for same-sex
marriage bans. In an interview with NPR, she called the decision
“very painful,” but added that after leaving she “felt sane for
the first time in a very long while.”