Joseph Gordon-Levitt covers the latest GQ but, while thankful for it, has an issue with the magazine implying his older brother died of a drug overdose in 2010. According to JGL, that’s not what happened.
First of all, I’d like to thank both of the Jims and everyone else at GQ for putting me on the cover of their magazine this month. That kind of exposure is a huge help to all the work I love to do, and I’m deeply appreciative.
I’m writing this because I have a problem with what their article says about my brother. I’ll be honest, it really made me feel terrible. Here’s a quote:
‘…the elder Gordon-Levitt died of an alleged drug overdose in 2010. “It was an accident” is all Joe will say about that.’
Using the word “alleged” technically allows the writer to say whatever she wants. The “allegations” to which she must be referring were made by a handful of gossip websites. They are factually incorrect according to the coroner’s office and the police department. I don’t like publicly speaking about my brother’s death, but I’m making an exception to correct this irresponsible claim.
By the way, while I asked the writer not to dwell on how he died, I did say quite a bit about how he lived, and how much he means to me. Dan was a brightly positive, genuinely caring, and brilliantly inspiring person, and I liked the idea of such a wide readership learning about him. My parents and I are disappointed with what the article chose to focus on regarding this sensitive subject.
To be fair, GQ didn’t really dwell too much on how he died. They maybe put those two sentences about his death and moved on. Also, the result of his brother’s toxicology test wasn’t made public so no one knows exactly how he died. Was it an accident? Maybe. An accidental overdose? I mean, allegedly. Wait, I mean, maybe? Crap. How do I get out of this?