The Daily Beast

‘If I Die, I Die’: Meat Loaf Spurned COVID Rules Before Death

Jamie Ross, Cheyenne RoundtreeJanuary 21, 2022, 3:24 AM·3 min readIn this article:

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• Meat LoafAmerican singer and actor

Theatrical rock superstar Meat Loaf, whose Bat Out of Hellis one of the bestselling albums of all time, has died at the age of 74. Reports say the singer and actor had recently fallen sick with COVID-19.

In an emotional statement posted to Facebook early Friday, the performer’s family said he was with his wife when he died and had said his final goodbyes to his two daughters in the past 24 hours. The star sold 100 million albums in his five-decade career and starred in movies including Fight Club, TheRocky Horror Picture Show,and Wayne’s World, and did a stint on Donald Trump’s Celebrity Apprenticereality-TV show.

“We know how much he meant to so many of you and we truly appreciate all of the love and support as we move through this time of grief in losing such an inspiring artist and beautiful man,” the family wrote in its announcement. “From his heart to your souls… don’t ever stop rocking!”

No cause of death was confirmed, but TMZ reported that Meat Loaf—whose real name was Marvin Lee Aday—died after falling “seriously ill” with COVID-19 in recent weeks. According to the site, he canceled a business meeting this week for a planned reality show named after his hit “I’d Do Anything for Love (but I Won’t Do That).”

Meat Loaf’s daughter Pearl Aday posted on Instagram on Jan. 7 that several of her friends and family had recently tested positive. “We are not sick, but we have too many friends and family testing positive right now, positive but doing ok,” she wrote. “Thank their respect for science that they’re all vaxxed, otherwise they’d be way worse.”

The singer’s vaccine status isn’t known, but TMZ reported that he had recently spoken out against planned vaccine mandates in Australia.

The Daily Beast reached out to his manager Michael Greene for comment on his cause of death.

In May, he posted a clip of Eric Clapton’s anti-lockdown song “Stand and Deliver,” and, in what appears to be one of his last interviews, Meat Loaf appeared to be losing patience with pandemic measures.

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