I was never a big fan of MTV's "The Real World"-- until the San Diego season in 2004. I have some very fond memories of RWSD- my roommates [7W3] and I would always make a point of watching it. I realize that probably sounds ridiculous; an apartment full of dudes in there 20's being stoked on MTV's "R-Dubs". But it's completely the truth. There was something about that cast that we loved. We must've felt like we could relate to them somehow. Maybe it was the way that they were all such different people but still managed to get along pretty well in spite of their obvious differences, maybe it was all of the 40oz beers that they drank? Also they weren't exactly your typical RW cast in that they weren't really whores, at least I don't remember them that way. I don't know, but there was just something about those kids that made us want to keep watching- Jacquese, Brad, Big Ran, Cameran, Frankie, Robin, Jamie, and Charlie (a later addition to the cast brought on to replace Frankie when she eventually left the show - not pictured above).
[Just to clarify- I haven't watched that show since season 14, except for maybe the following season for a few episodes. It just wasn't the same though.]
In any case, I'm sorry to report that over the weekend Frankie passed away. Even though she would sometimes make things more interesting on the show, we were never huge fans of her. I can remember coming home from an evening class the night that the episode where she got caught cutting herself aired. One of my roommates at the time had recorded the episode for whoever missed it, and the label to the VHS cassette read "FRANKIE THE CUTTER" in big black marker. Somehow her self-mutilation became a joke around the apartment after that (not to say that people cutting themselves is funny- at all). But let's be realistic - this was the same girl who had cystic fibrosis and still smoked cigarettes all of the time. It's hard to take someone like that very seriously.
"Frankie Abernathy, the punk rock-adoring former "Real World: San Diego" housemate whose struggle with cystic fibrosis helped to further raise national awareness about the chronic lung disease, died Saturday evening in her mother Abbie Hunter's Shorewood, Wisconsin, home. An official cause of death has yet to be determined; Abernathy was 25."
Read more at MTV.com: 'Real World: San Diego' Alum Frankie Abernathy Dead At 25
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