Bob Saget’s Family Just Filed a Lawsuit to Keep Details About His Cause of Death a Secret
Just over a month after his passing, Bob Saget‘s widow and daughters have sued officials in Orange County, Florida, in an attempt to prevent the release of new details surrounding his death at the age of 65. Bob Saget’s family lawsuit claims that his loved ones would suffer “irreparable harm” if investigation records into his death were to be made public.
Saget’s wife, Kelly Rizzo, and daughters Lara, Aubrey and Jennifer Saget, filed the lawsuit in early February 2022, noting they “would suffer irreparable harm in the form of extreme mental pain, anguish, and emotional distress” if the District Nine Medical Examiner’s Office and Orange County Sheriff John W. Mina released records related to Saget’s death. In particular, the family does not want records released that include “photographs, video recordings, audio recordings” and “statutorily protected autopsy information,” as these records “graphically depict” Saget’s cause of death. Following reports of the lawsuit, Saget’s daughter Lara also took to Instagram with a message that included the lines: “If only people knew…how poisonous gossip is, how important privacy is to grieve.”
Saget’s family lawsuit comes weeks after the beloved Full House star was found dead in his hotel room at the Ritz-Carlton in Orlando, Florida on January 9, 2022. According to a statement released by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office at the time, there were no signs of foul play or drug use on the scene. “Earlier today, deputies were called to the Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes for a call about an unresponsive man in a hotel room,” the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. “The man was identified as Robert Saget & pronounced deceased on scene. Detectives found no signs of foul play or drug use in this case.”
For weeks, fans and authorities speculated that Saget’s cause of death may have been the result of a heart attack or stroke, as he was found in bed with his left arm over his chest. But Saget’s family confirmed the comedian’s real cause of death on February 9, 2022, revealing that he died as a result of “accidental” head trauma as confirmed by a Florida medical examiner’s report after an autopsy. “Now that we have the final conclusions from the authorities’ investigation, we felt it only proper that the fans hear those conclusions directly from us,” the family said in a statement at the time. “They have concluded that he accidentally hit the back of his head on something, thought nothing of it and went to sleep. No drugs or alcohol were involved.”
However, many medical experts have since suggested that something about Saget’s cause of death isn’t quite adding up with their findings. The New York Times spoke with several medical professionals, many of whom found it difficult to believe Saget shrugged off his injuries after his autopsy report revealed he sustained a serious blow to the head that fractured his skull in multiple places and caused bleeding on both sides of his brain.
Dr. Jeffery Bazarian, an emergency physician and concussion expert at the University of Rochester Medical Center, did concede that it’s possible Saget’s injury was from an accidental fall—but the assertion that he “thought nothing of it” and simply went to sleep doesn’t quite add up for Bazarian. “I doubt he was lucid,” the doctor told The New York Times. “And I doubt he thought, ‘I’m just going to sleep this off’.”
Meanwhile, several neurosurgeons interviewed by the Times found Saget’s injuries to be more consistent with a fall from a considerable height or getting thrown from their seat in a car crash. “This is significant trauma,” Dr. Gavin Britz, the chair in neurosurgery at Houston Methodist, told the paper on February 11, 2022. “This is something I find with someone with a baseball bat to the head, or who has fallen from 20 or 30 feet.” Britz also went on to note that Saget’s orbital bone fracture would have caused “significant pain.” Still, the medical examiner on Saget’s case ruled that his death was accidental.
Before his death, the comic actor was in the middle of his stand-up comedy tour, titled “I Don’t Do Negative.” The America’s Funniest Home Videos host had recently completed his second performance in Jacksonville, Florida on January 8, 2022. Just hours before he was found dead in his hotel room, Saget took to social media to gush about his experience on tour. “I’m back in comedy like I was when I was 26,” he captioned a selfie on Instagram. “I guess I’m finding my new voice and loving every moment of it. … Goin’ everywhere until I get the special shot. And then probably keep going cause I’m addicted to this shit.”
Dirty Daddy: The Chronicles of a Family Man Turned Filthy Comedian by Bob Saget
'Dirty Daddy' by Bob Saget
For more about Bob Saget’s life before his death, read his 2014 memoir Dirty Daddy: The Chronicles of a Family Man Turned Filthy Comedian . The New York Times’ bestseller recounts Saget’s journey as a butcher’s son born to a family beset by tragedy, through his early days as a stand-up comic, to landing his career-defining gig on Full House and hosting America’s Funniest Home Videos. In his memoir, Saget dishes on what really went on behind the scenes of two of the most successful family shows of all time—from what it was like changing Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s diapers, to working with co-stars like John Stamos and Dave Coulier—all before imploding his family-friendly image on projects like HBO’s Entourage and the 2005 documentary, The Aristocrats, with the jokes fans have never heard before from the man known as America’s Dad.
Full House, where Bob Saget starred as Danny Tanner for eight seasons from 1987 to 1995, is available to stream on HBO Max. Here’s how to watch it for free.
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