RIP Josh Humphrey from EasyWDW

I really loved his blog when I was planning my first trip with my daughter back in 2014 and continued reading it for my Disney fix over the years. Very sad to hear this news

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I believe I was only introduced to this blogger when someone either on this forum or maybe in the chat shared one of his recent posts where he wrote about his mental health struggles. He was vulnerable and transparent and real. I canā€™t find that post so I am possibly wrong on this and mixing and matching here. If so, ignore the below.

I of course have no line of sight whatsoever into what happened.

Having said this, I work in the mental health field, although not on the clinical side, and I so wanted to reach out after reading his post to see if he had been properly connected to a treatment team.

I didnā€™tā€¦

I know better.

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I loved his site and his sense of humor. Heā€™ll be missed. With as much shade as he threw at TP/lines, I always hoped for an epic touring showdown between him and Len.

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You are correct, most of his posts were on Twitter. He did say he was sick for quite some time and then shared his recent struggle. No official cause has been shared that I know of.

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Much of his trial is recorded in his own words on this thread from his site.

Sounds wholly heartbreaking.

easywdwforums
https://easywdwforums.com/threads/our-fearless-leader-is-back-in-action.41599/

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Reading this line from 1/21/22 is just a gut punch.

" If I disappeared tomorrow, the Disney blogosphere would take a hit, the quality of the information available would likely worsen, people would be disappointed for a moment or two, and then simply move on."

:frowning:

He was making this remark in the context of talking about how difficult it had become to be a Disney blogger anymore with - as he said and I agree - the focus changing from quality to speed and needing to be the first to break the story. Still, with his passing less than 2 months later, I am reading it hoping there wasnā€™t more behind it.

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I was saddened by this statement as well.

There are bloggers Iā€™ve stopped reading because they seemed to have turned into Disney PR. I donā€™t need the info the minute it comes out (thatā€™s what DPB is for). I appreciate the info on this site as well as Disney Tourist Blog, as it is not just positive reviews. I also enjoyed Joshā€™s info and missed reading his advice for our last trip. Iā€™m not planning a Disney trip anytime in the near future, but am keeping track of info on Universal for a possible visit there in a year or 2.

Just so heartbreaking. And I pray for his family.

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Sad to see this news. I enjoyed checking in on EasyWDW occassionally because I think Josh ran a good natured Disney planning site. I enjoyed his humor and candor.

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At some point I will watch the link he posted to his last appearance on WDWNT, just not this week.

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All evening.

In any case itā€™s devastating. To either have caused self-harm, or to have had treatments cause death. Itā€™s tragic and his family must be broken. I am so sad for them.

I am so sad to hear this. I was wondering this morning if he would be creating an updated book. His blog and humor and particular hatred of the Italy food booth were such a joy and I will miss him.

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This was painful to read, poor guy.

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Yeah that was awful to read too.

All of that whole episode.

I read this stuff and I just canā€™t help, as a mother, to think of how heartbreaking it would be to know that my son (or daughter) were in that position. Just how terrifyingly alone and frightened and worried or sad he must have felt. I just canā€™tā€¦

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This breaks my heart. He was a huge reason why I started reading Disney Blogs so many years ago. His voice was unlike anyone else, and his sarcasm and wit were unmatched by those in the Disney blogosphere. It will be sorely missed. His tweets would make me laugh out loud most of the time and I loved how he would call everyone out on their BS.

Did not expect this news today and Iā€™m much more affected by it than I would have expected. RIP Josh. Gone too soon.

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I was so devastated to read this on Twitter this morning. I spent some extra time before coming to work reading all the kind memories and funny stories the Twitterverse had to share about Josh. I loved his humor and his advice. It was so hard to read about his struggles during the pandemic, but I applauded him for his frank writing of even something so personal.
I donā€™t know if his mental health or another illness is what caused this tragedy, but mental health is no joke. Take care of yourselves.
My thoughts are with his family and friends. :broken_heart:

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I donā€™t know this gentleman. His avatar looks familiar in that I think Iā€™ve seen others post him here a time or two. And I donā€™t know what happened to him. But I pray for peace for his friends and loved ones.

The speculation, and the retweets/posts of his dark time hit much closer to home than I was expecting, never knowing the man.

Iā€™ve done that walk in the middle of the night, out of my mind.

It was literally the worst year of my life. Not being able to trust my thoughts. Having no one who would stop hurting me or looking the other way long enough to care. I grew up watching my grandmother, mother, father and bonus dad all suffer serious mental health breakdowns and think that thatā€™s just a normal upbringing.

DH and I only half joke that he saved my life the night I met him (18 years ago tomorrow), about a year after that walk after dark I took.

I wanted to bring this up to say that, though I didnā€™t know it then, that there are a lot of good people in the world who honestly care. I just didnā€™t know it and or felt like I deserved access to them. There were a couple of times I could feel myself slipping into that well of misery, when a few people here on the forum reached out to me privately and offered support or a friendly ear. It was just enough for me to stop the slide and start focusing on the important things. I am one of the incredibly lucky ones who physically escaped an abusive past, and every single day I actively work on mentally escaping it too.

That being said, I am also HORRIBLE when people are more than surface nice to me. Like, I donā€™t know how to process it as normal people would. Iā€™m waiting for the other shoe to drop, so to speak. Accepting help as a child got me emotionally bullied, physically beat and and worse. Itā€™s not that I think itā€™s going to happen again (anymore), itā€™s that I just donā€™t know how to accept it properly.

So to those that did reach out. Again, I appreciate it more than words can express, even though my responses might have been short.

My heart hurts for Josh. My heart hurts for anyone who battles themselves more than any outside force. Weā€™re the enemy that never sleeps.

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I think this is sad, but understandable. Iā€™m glad you shared this. Many people here suffer from mental health issues. Speaking out about it breaks down stigma.

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It does break down the stigma. Mental health is something I need to be diligent about, but it does not define me (not saying that you or anyone thinks that). Nor should it define Josh, if his darkness ended up being the sickness he passed from.

He should be celebrated and remembered for who he was as a person, and all of the great work he did bringing people closer to Disneyā€¦a happy place for many who have a hard time finding happiness in themselves.

In todayā€™s world, we can all do with a little extra happiness wherever we can find it.

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This is a nice tribute to Josh. Donā€™t do what I did and restart it, just let it play.

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Thank you @Nicky_S for posting that. I will miss reading Joshā€™s and Tomā€™s new restaurant reviews. It was always fun to look at the pictures/ read the reviews and know they had been sitting right next to each other during the meals. I appreciated Tom mentioning the festival reviews on the WDWNT radio show because that is the first thing I thought of when I read the news. Thanks again.

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