VH1 documentary to show last seconds of singer Lisa Lopes' life tonight

[Ireneparalegal]

The documentary set to air tonight will show the singer's last moments alive right up to when she swerves off the road. Her life was being documented and there was a cameraman in the vehicle that Lisa was driving and eventually crashed.


Lisa Lopes Documentary Captures Singer's Last Days
TLC singer died five years ago Wednesday; 'Last Days of Left Eye' debuts May 19 on VH1, VH1 Soul.
By Shaheem Reid

Whenever an anniversary of the death of a beloved musician comes around, it's always difficult to believe that they've been gone for so long. Last year made a decade since Tupac Shakur left us and last month marked 10 years since the Notorious B.I.G. passed away. Wednesday (April 25) is five years to the day TLC's Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes died. She was 30.

Like 2Pac and Biggie, Left Eye, of course, left a whole legacy of music and memorable media moments to remember her by. But what we didn't know until now is that the self-proclaimed "crazy" third of TLC left even more behind. The hip-hop singer documented the last month of her life in video form, and that footage will soon be made available for the public to see in the VH1 doc "Last Days of Left Eye."

Lopes died in a car accident on April 25, 2002, while in Honduras, where she had gone for spiritual and physical healing. She went there on a 30-day pilgrimage with family and friends and was killed just a few days before her scheduled return to the U.S.

"Last Days of Left Eye" tells her story not just in the Honduras — she originally went there in 1997 to study with controversial natural healer Dr. Sebi and kept returning — but also the beginning of her life, her career and into its tragic conclusion.

Much like MTV Films' "Tupac: Resurrection," "Last Days of Left Eye" lets the pop star tell her own story through interviews she taped in the Honduras as well as a slew of unreleased home videos, photos and famous footage from the vaults of television outlets such as MTV. Laurin Lazin, who directed and wrote the Tupac movie, also directed and wrote the Lopes project.

Left Eye rarely shied away from a camera or microphone — well, except after some well-publicized TLC no-shows, and another time when she went missing for a few days, but it turned out she was just spending some quality time with her boyfriend (footage of which is in the movie).

Still, over the course of Lopes' career, fans got to feel that they knew her intimately. That was one of the keys to TLC's success — not only were they talented, but they were easily one of the most publicly identifiable groups of their generation, thanks also to TLC's efforts to raise awareness about contraceptive devices.

"Last Days," though, gives some new insights that even devout Lopes fans may not have known about. How did Left Eye become such a rebel? She talks in depth about her childhood and how she became the woman we came to know. Maybe the most revealing chapter in the film deals with her infamous relationship with fiance/ NFL Pro Bowl wide receiver Andre Rison. Lopes breaks down the violent night of fighting that led to her burning down his Atlanta mansion — "I was just trying to barbecue his tennis shoes," she later explained — and reveals more about the trials of their relationship.

Left Eye was drawn to go to the Honduras for the final time after Arista Records declined to release her solo LP, Supernova. She was upset and needed to take a break, and Honduras seemed like the perfect refuge where she could reflect. She had been involved in a separate car accident in which a local boy — who had the same last name as the singer — was killed. Left Eye said that "spirit" was chasing her, and she started foreshadowing more death. The footage of her in the Honduras goes almost to the exact moment of the other car accident, in which she was killed. She was driving an SUV with six other people when she lost control of the vehicle. Left Eye was the only one victim.

Last week in Atlanta, VH1 held a screening of the movie as part of the Atlanta Film Festival with several of Left Eye's friends and admirers — Monica, Ron DeVoe of New Edition, 112, Big Boi, Rico Wade, India.Arie and Cee-Lo were all in attendance. Lopes' family, who supplied much of the footage to VH1, was there as well. After the movie, many took time to reflect on the late singer's life.

"A lot of people were coming up to me and asking me about different things in the movie, but I was learning a lot from it myself," Cee-Lo said of the event.

Lopes would have turned 36 on May 27. "Last Days of Left Eye" debuts on VH1 and VH1 Soul on May 19 at 9 p.m.

[Janice]

I wouldn't want to see that. I bet it ends up on youtube.

[Ireneparalegal]

I am sure it will.

[Number 9 Dream]

You're right--it is up on youtube (the moments before she died, I mean). I was browsing the ohnotheydidnt community at livejournal and clicked on it, not knowing it was the actual footage of the moments before her death (I thought it was just going to be a clip of the documentary).

Let me tell you--this is one of the eeriest things I've ever seen and I've seen a lot of creepy stuff. You don't see the actual impact (they edited it out), but you see the few minutes prior to the crash and the actual swerving to get out of the way.

It's so eerie how everyone in the car is so calm....there are about 4 or 5 girls in the back (not wearing seat belts, might I add), and one of them asks Lisa (the driver) for something she was holding (looked like a Coca Cola tin or something). Lisa gives it to her, then a split second later we hear screeching tires, then the girls scream and we see the car swerve out of oncoming traffic.

It's not graphic or anything, but really sad :(

[Ireneparalegal]

You're right--it is up on youtube (the moments before she died, I mean). I was browsing the ohnotheydidnt community at livejournal and clicked on it, not knowing it was the actual footage of the moments before her death (I thought it was just going to be a clip of the documentary).

Let me tell you--this is one of the eeriest things I've ever seen and I've seen a lot of creepy stuff. You don't see the actual impact (they edited it out), but you see the few minutes prior to the crash and the actual swerving to get out of the way.

It's so eerie how everyone in the car is so calm....there are about 4 or 5 girls in the back (not wearing seat belts, might I add), and one of them asks Lisa (the driver) for something she was holding (looked like a Coca Cola tin or something). Lisa gives it to her, then a split second later we hear screeching tires, then the girls scream and we see the car swerve out of oncoming traffic.

It's not graphic or anything, but really sad :(

It is eerily quiet isn't it? Almost like you are watching a movie at the show and the climax is abt to occur. The fact that she tried to correct her driving by turning the steering wheel too far is what causes vehicles like the one she was driving and most SUVs to do rollovers. This was the case here. Ironically, Lisa WAS wearing her seatbelt. She was the only fatality. :(

[Number 9 Dream]

Yeah, it's so unsettling and sad :( It appears she swerved left to avoid another car (I heard there was a truck in front of her that was stopped? She probably wasn't paying attention and had to make a split second decision to swerve, which was her fatal mistake).

I don't know all the details...did a car from oncoming traffic smack in to her right after the tape cuts out? It appears she was getting ready to roll down that ditch before the tape cut out, but I'm not sure if she got hit from another car prior to that.

And another thing--I know it was reported that she was wearing a seat belt, but I don't see one on her (unless she's just wearing her lap belt, but that of course is the wrong way to do it). Did you see one on her, Irene?

It's very sad either way :( The weirdest part about this story is that Lisa claimed she was being followed by a 'dark spirit' all that week and had a sense of foreboding that something bad was going to happen to her. That very car even hit and killed a little boy a few days earlier (who had the last name Lopez, might I add...what an eerie coincidence). Lisa wasn't driving the car that day. She seems to have thought that the dark spirit was supposed to be getting her, but claimed the little boy with the last name Lopez instead.

Then she was killed a few days later.


It is eerily quiet isn't it? Almost like you are watching a movie at the show and the climax is abt to occur. The fact that she tried to correct her driving by turning the steering wheel too far is what causes vehicles like the one she was driving and most SUVs to do rollovers. This was the case here. Ironically, Lisa WAS wearing her seatbelt. She was the only fatality. :(

[Ireneparalegal]

I seen the documentary once, I didn't pay attention to the seatbelt detail. I guess I should have. Right after that piece of the tape played, the screen went black and on the screen it said that Lisa was the only one wearing her seat belt. With severe head injuries, since most of the impact occurred on the driver's side, I can see how a safety belt would not have saved her anyhow.

[Mr. Stefani]

That was actually a really good documentary. I didn't expect them to show her die but it was still good. It was almost like she knew her time was up. She kept saying that there was a sprit who was out to get her and that it was supposed to take her instead of the little boy that was killed in the car she was in. The other passangers that were in the car said she remained completely silent the whole time. I remember someone saying that people tend to get spirtual before they die, which she was at that time. I remember reading awhile back that people were saying she faked her own death, which could make sense considering she was considered a missing person in the US and thought nothing of it. I found it interesting.

[Mr. Stefani]

I don't know all the details...did a car from oncoming traffic smack in to her right after the tape cuts out? It appears she was getting ready to roll down that ditch before the tape cut out, but I'm not sure if she got hit from another car prior to that.

Her family said there was more footage of the accident but thats all that they wanted to show. It didnt actually cut out, thats just how they edited it. I don't really understand what happened, they showed her pass back that coke a cola tin and then she lost control of the car?

[Number 9 Dream]

To me, it looks like she passed the Coca Cola tin to her friend, then looked up and noticed there was something in the road and swerved to avoid hitting it. However, some people on the livejournal community where I was browsing the video said it appeared she was trying to stay focused a few times prior to the crash (like she hadn't had enough sleep and was trying to stay awake). Whether passing the thing to her friend caused her to crash or it was something else entirely, I don't know. It didn't seem like she was paying attention either way.

It's also interesting to note that she was on a diet fast during her trip (or at least, so I hear). Lack of energy from food can definitely slow down the reaction time substantially.

Her family said there was more footage of the accident but thats all that they wanted to show. It didnt actually cut out, thats just how they edited it. I don't really understand what happened, they showed her pass back that coke a cola tin and then she lost control of the car?

[TVFactFan]

The documentary set to air tonight will show the singer's last moments alive right up to when she swerves off the road. Her life was being documented and there was a cameraman in the vehicle that Lisa was driving and eventually crashed.


Lisa Lopes Documentary Captures Singer's Last Days
TLC singer died five years ago Wednesday; 'Last Days of Left Eye' debuts May 19 on VH1, VH1 Soul.
By Shaheem Reid

Whenever an anniversary of the death of a beloved musician comes around, it's always difficult to believe that they've been gone for so long. Last year made a decade since Tupac Shakur left us and last month marked 10 years since the Notorious B.I.G. passed away. Wednesday (April 25) is five years to the day TLC's Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes died. She was 30.

Like 2Pac and Biggie, Left Eye, of course, left a whole legacy of music and memorable media moments to remember her by. But what we didn't know until now is that the self-proclaimed "crazy" third of TLC left even more behind. The hip-hop singer documented the last month of her life in video form, and that footage will soon be made available for the public to see in the VH1 doc "Last Days of Left Eye."

Lopes died in a car accident on April 25, 2002, while in Honduras, where she had gone for spiritual and physical healing. She went there on a 30-day pilgrimage with family and friends and was killed just a few days before her scheduled return to the U.S.

"Last Days of Left Eye" tells her story not just in the Honduras — she originally went there in 1997 to study with controversial natural healer Dr. Sebi and kept returning — but also the beginning of her life, her career and into its tragic conclusion.

Much like MTV Films' "Tupac: Resurrection," "Last Days of Left Eye" lets the pop star tell her own story through interviews she taped in the Honduras as well as a slew of unreleased home videos, photos and famous footage from the vaults of television outlets such as MTV. Laurin Lazin, who directed and wrote the Tupac movie, also directed and wrote the Lopes project.

Left Eye rarely shied away from a camera or microphone — well, except after some well-publicized TLC no-shows, and another time when she went missing for a few days, but it turned out she was just spending some quality time with her boyfriend (footage of which is in the movie).

Still, over the course of Lopes' career, fans got to feel that they knew her intimately. That was one of the keys to TLC's success — not only were they talented, but they were easily one of the most publicly identifiable groups of their generation, thanks also to TLC's efforts to raise awareness about contraceptive devices.

"Last Days," though, gives some new insights that even devout Lopes fans may not have known about. How did Left Eye become such a rebel? She talks in depth about her childhood and how she became the woman we came to know. Maybe the most revealing chapter in the film deals with her infamous relationship with fiance/ NFL Pro Bowl wide receiver Andre Rison. Lopes breaks down the violent night of fighting that led to her burning down his Atlanta mansion — "I was just trying to barbecue his tennis shoes," she later explained — and reveals more about the trials of their relationship.

Left Eye was drawn to go to the Honduras for the final time after Arista Records declined to release her solo LP, Supernova. She was upset and needed to take a break, and Honduras seemed like the perfect refuge where she could reflect. She had been involved in a separate car accident in which a local boy — who had the same last name as the singer — was killed. Left Eye said that "spirit" was chasing her, and she started foreshadowing more death. The footage of her in the Honduras goes almost to the exact moment of the other car accident, in which she was killed. She was driving an SUV with six other people when she lost control of the vehicle. Left Eye was the only one victim.

Last week in Atlanta, VH1 held a screening of the movie as part of the Atlanta Film Festival with several of Left Eye's friends and admirers — Monica, Ron DeVoe of New Edition, 112, Big Boi, Rico Wade, India.Arie and Cee-Lo were all in attendance. Lopes' family, who supplied much of the footage to VH1, was there as well. After the movie, many took time to reflect on the late singer's life.

"A lot of people were coming up to me and asking me about different things in the movie, but I was learning a lot from it myself," Cee-Lo said of the event.

Lopes would have turned 36 on May 27. "Last Days of Left Eye" debuts on VH1 and VH1 Soul on May 19 at 9 p.m.



That's real depressing to watch, who the hell wants to see that?

[TVFactFan]

I seen the documentary once, I didn't pay attention to the seatbelt detail. I guess I should have. Right after that piece of the tape played, the screen went black and on the screen it said that Lisa was the only one wearing her seat belt. With severe head injuries, since most of the impact occurred on the driver's side, I can see how a safety belt would not have saved her anyhow.


Wow i'm surprised you were able to get through it

[Mr. Stefani]

That's real depressing to watch, who the hell wants to see that?
It really wasnt though. It gave a good look at who she was which is something you've never seen before from her.

[Mr. Stefani]

To me, it looks like she passed the Coca Cola tin to her friend, then looked up and noticed there was something in the road and swerved to avoid hitting it. However, some people on the livejournal community where I was browsing the video said it appeared she was trying to stay focused a few times prior to the crash (like she hadn't had enough sleep and was trying to stay awake). Whether passing the thing to her friend caused her to crash or it was something else entirely, I don't know. It didn't seem like she was paying attention either way.

It's also interesting to note that she was on a diet fast during her trip (or at least, so I hear). Lack of energy from food can definitely slow down the reaction time substantially.

I think the fast was prior to that trip because I remember she was promoting something with TLC during it. I remember seeing MTV interview her and thinking how can someone not eat for 40 days

[Ireneparalegal]

Wow i'm surprised you were able to get through it
I am not easily spooked or grossed out by stuff. I can watch autopsies on cable channels and so forth.

I really liked the documentary. It really gave us an insight into her life, coming from her mouth, not anyone else's words. So eerie though. So ironic that here she was documenting her life up to this point and talking and sharing stories with us, it was really beautiful. How many people can share us their life right before they die? I have no questions abt her life because she shared it with us.

[Courtnee]

It was a good documentary. I don't consider myself a fan, but it was interesting.