Alicia Witt posted an emotional thank you to her fans on social media saying their kind words have helped her as she deals with the shock of losing both her parents right before Christmas.
“If I could wrap my arms around all of you — I would,” she wrote. “Your words, your empathy and your kindness have all been deeply felt — please know I’ve read them all.”
Witt’s parents, Robert, 87, and Diane, 75, Witt, were discovered dead in their Worcester, Massachusetts home on December 20. The actress, who lives in Nashville, became concerned when she hadn’t heard from her parents in a few days and called a cousin to check on them.
“Sadly, the outcome was unimaginable,” Witt wrote in a December statement. “I ask for some privacy at this time to grieve and to wrap my head around this turn of events, and this surreal loss.”
Authorities have not released an official cause of death to the public. Police said that there were no signs of foul play or trauma, but it appeared that the couple had been using space heaters to stay warm. The night before they were discovered, the temperature had dipped to 15 degrees, according to the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.
Invasion of privacy
Last week, Witt shared a post on social media refuting rumors she had heard circulating her parents’ death. She described her parents as private people but said she had no choice but to speak out.
“My parents were not penniless,” she wrote. “They were fiercely stubborn, beautifully original souls, and with that, they made choices — choices that I couldn’t talk them out of. I did help them, in all the ways I could — in all the ways they would let me.”
According to court documents obtained by the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, Robert and Diane Witt’s home had been damaged in a 2008 ice storm. Neighbors told the newspaper that the couple’s furnace had not been working recently.
Witt said that when she offered to help her parents with their home, they turned her down.
“I begged, cried, tried to reason with them, tried to convince them to let me help them move — but every time, they became furious with me, telling me I had no right to tell them how to live their lives and that they had it all under control,”
She wrote, “It was not for a lack of trying on my part, or the part of other people who loved them.”
Support from fans
Witt said she was touched by the outpouring of love and support she received on social media following her emotional post.
“Thank you to the many, many, many of you who have shared your extremely personal stories with me — your similar situations to the one I experienced/am still going through. This brings me to tears all over again,” she wrote.
In her message, posted next to a video of waves rolling into the shore, she told fans she was sending them love.
“My aching heart feels so grateful to know that we are, all of us, not alone in this specific pain. That some solace and unity, some balm of deeper healing, could come from such a thing — I am sending you so much love, and I see you, and you are definitely not alone,” she wrote.