Kjell Rasten, Charo’s Husband Of 40 Years, Has Died By Suicide
For many of us, Charo is a human disco ball ray of potent happiness and brings us joy with every little cuchi cuchi she does, so now it’s our turn to cuchi cuchi some healing thoughts at her, because she’s in a dark, bad place right now.
TMZ says that Charo’s husband, Kjell Rasten, shot himself yesterday in the Beverly Hills home he shares with her. He was 78. To add a heaping mound of sad on an already mountain of sad, Charo was reportedly home at the time.
The Blast says that someone in the house called 911. He was taken to the hospital by an ambulance, and Charo rode with him. They weren’t able to save him and he was pronounced dead at the hospital. Charo confirmed Kjell’s suicide in a statement and said that he was diagnosed with an awful skin condition called Bullous Pemphigoid, which causes chronic blistering. That caused him to fall into a deep depression:
Kjell Rasten was a TV producer and after he became Charo’s second husband in 1978 (Charo says her first marriage to bandleader Xavier Cugat was a business arrangement), he took on her career as her manager. Three years later, Charo cuchi cuchi’d out their only child, a son named Shel Rasten, who grew up to be a Tiger Beat adonis circa 1979.
Shel mostly stayed behind-the-scenes, but he was on an episode of Wife Swap where Charo and Vicki Stubing from The Love Boat switched families:
Rest in peace, Shel. If you happen to run into Karl Lagerfeld while on your way to the afterworld, please pull out your phone (yes, iPhones exist in every realm) and show him pictures of the magnificent Charo so Karl can see what real fashion is!
Pic: Instagram