Barbara Bush Dies One Day After Internet Death Hoax

Barbara Bush has died, one day after a report that was published by a fake news site designed to look like CNN wrongly reported her death. As of Monday, April 16, the former first lady was said to be in “great spirits,” despite her declining health, and nothing had changed beyond that update.

On Tuesday, April 17, a statement by the office of George H.W. Bush was released, confirming that Mrs. Bush had passed away.

On Monday, “breaking-cnn.com” published a story claiming that Mrs. Bush had passed away. However, the original post is currently unavailable, and links to the story published by site will bring you to an error page. You can see the site’s post here. You can read an excerpt from the bogus report below.

“Former first lady Barbara Bush has died ‘peacefully in her sleep,’ a spokesman for the Bush family said she died on Sunday evening. 92-year old Bush died hours after announcing that she will not seek additional medical care. She made headlines in the past 24 hours that she was in failing health and would not seek additional medical care after a series of recent hospitalizations.”

The story sent the internet into a frenzy, with many social media users posting things like “RIP Barbara Bush.” The more people have been tweeting and posting to Facebook about the false story, the more others have been led to believe that Barbara Bush was dead.

CNN was quick to rectify the situation, however, confirming that the “news” post about Bush’s death was not legit. Check out Sam Feist’s tweet below.

On Monday morning’s episode of Today, Bush’s granddaughter, Jenna Bush-Hager, gave an update on her grandmother.

“Barbara and I talked to her last night. She’s in great spirits, and she’s a fighter. She’s an enforcer. She reminded me not to believe everything you read, so we’re grateful for her, for everybody’s prayers and thoughts, and just know the world is better because she’s in it,” Bush-Hager said. “We are grateful for her. She is the best grandma anybody could have ever had — or have,” she added.

Barbara Bush had been suffering from congestive heart failure and COPD. Over the weekend, a spokesperson for the Bush family released a statement on Barbara Bush’s current health.

“Following a recent series of hospitalizations, and after consulting her family and doctors, Mrs. Bush, now age 92, has decided not to seek additional medical treatment and will instead focus on comfort care. She is surrounded by a family she adores, and appreciates the many kind messages and especially the prayers she is receiving,” Jim McGrath said in a news release Sunday, according to Politico. Mrs. Bush is being cared for at her home in Houston, Texas.

Since the announcement, the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy has created a page where people can leave their well wishes for the former first lady.

On April 15, another death hoax of sorts started after CBS News accidentally published an obituary for Barbara Bush. The headline read, “DO NOT PUBLISH – Former first lady Barbara Bush dies at age 92 DO NOT PUBLISH,” according to Business2Community. CBS has since removed the live post.

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