Dan Aykroyd opened up about the devastating moment he broke the news of John Belushi’s death to this wife, Judy Belushi Pisano.
Aykroyd spoke fondly of his years-long friendship with Belushi, in a recent episode of his new Audible Original, “Blues Brothers: The Arc of Gratitude,” and explained how it all came to a tragic end on March 5, 1982.
“After a night of drinking brandy, smoking cigarettes and consuming cocaine, John succumbed in Bungalow 3 of the Chateau Marmont in L.A. to a non self-administered injection of mixed cocaine and heroin, commonly known as a speedball,” Aykroyd said. “My first impulse was to find [John’s wife Judy] as soon as possible, running down the entire length of Fifth Avenue to their townhouse on Morton Street.”
LOS ANGELES, CA – APRIL 26: Dan Aykroyd is seen on April 26, 2018 in Los Angeles, CA. (Photo by SMXRF/Star Max/GC Images)
Aykroyd and Belushi had the same agent, Bernie Brillstein, and he was the one to notify Aykroyd that he had lost his friend, the actor recalled. Aykroyd was working on the script for “Ghostbusters” in New York City when the call came in.
The famous actor jumped to action and rushed to see Judy. He recalled the moment he realized that he was going to be the one to have to break the devastating news to her.
View of comedian and musician John Belushi (1949 – 1982) as he promotes the release of his film ‘The Blues Brothers,’ at an unspecified radio station, Chicago, Illinois, summer 1980. (Photo by Steve Kagan/Getty Images)
“Arriving at Judy’s house, I burst in and saw that she was standing at her fridge and did not know yet,” Aykroyd said on the podcast.
Judy weighed in with her side of the story, as she recalled receiving the devastating news.
“We had a push-button lock and I could hear someone pushing the buttons,” Judy said. “I thought, ‘Oh no, it’s too early for John to be back. And he would’ve called.’ Then Danny came in and I just knew something was wrong by the way he was standing.”
MARTHAS VINEYARD, MA – JUNE 22: A general view of the gravesite where actor John Belushi (1949-1982) is thought to be buried in Chilmark Cemetery on Martha’s Vineyard onJune 22, 2015 in Chilmark, MA. Belushi died from an overdose of a mixture of heroin and cocaine at the age of 33 in Hollywood, CA. (Photo by Paul Marotta/Getty Images)
“He sort of started to say something and not be able to say it,” Judy continued on the podcast. “And he said, ‘I don’t know how to tell you.’ And I kinda like grabbed him and said, ‘Has he been hurt?’ And he said, ‘No, honey, he’s dead.'”
Aykroyd expressed his feelings in that moment during a follow-up interview with People, published July 25.
“Having to tell Judy that John was gone, that I’ll never forget. That’s a piece of trauma that will be with me forever,” he told the outlet. (RELATED: Chevy Chase Claims The Late John Belushi Stole His Cocaine On Set Of ‘Saturday Night Live’)
“I lament that he’s not around. It’s more than wistfulness: it’s a true lamentation. Losing him set me back for a full year, but then I just wanted to go on and do more work and carry on,” he said in the interview.
Aykroyd recalled on the podcast that he was 29 years old at the time of Belushi’s death. Belushi passed away at the age of 33.
