The Social Climber: MTV 'Real World' Star Dies; Fans Mourn Sean Sasser

'Real World: San Francisco' star Sean Sasser died on Tuesday.

ByABC News
August 10, 2013, 10:43 AM
Bill Clinton greets AIDS activist Sean Sasser (L) during the first White House conference on AIDS, Dec. 6, 1995 at the Treasury Department in Washington.
Bill Clinton greets AIDS activist Sean Sasser (L) during the first White House conference on AIDS, Dec. 6, 1995 at the Treasury Department in Washington.
Joe Marquette/AP Photo

Aug. 10, 2013— -- quicklist: 1

Title: 'Real World' Star's Passing Continues to ResonateText: The passing of "The Real World: San Francisco" star Sean Sasser continues to resonate days after his death as friends, family and fans remember the AIDS activist.

Sasser died at the age of 44.

He died "after a short but difficult battle with Mesothelioma," a rare form of lung cancer, his partner Michael Kaplan confirmed on Facebook Wednesday.

Sasser rose to fame as one half of television's first gay, multiracial, HIV-positive couples in 1994 on the eponymous MTV show where "seven strangers…picked to live in a house…work together and have their lives taped."

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Title: Usher's SonText: R&B singer Usher is retaining primary custody of his two young sons after an emergency custody hearing on Friday.

The "More" crooner and "The Voice" coach was taken to task by his ex-wife Tameka Raymond in an Atlanta court room after the Raymonds' five-year-old son, Usher Raymond V, was hospitalized after a harrowing accident in the singer's poolearlier this week.

Despite the ordeal, Judge John G. Goger ruled to dismiss the emergency custody motion, but advised Usher "to keep your former spouse informed about your whereabouts and who is taking care of the kids."

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Title: Jennifer LawrenceText: While the Social Climber won't quite commit to calling it a girl crush, we're wondering if any actress in Hollywood can measure up to the awesomeness that is Jennifer Lawrence.

The Oscar-winning actress proves she is white-hot when it comes to getting back in the arena in the trailer for the second installment of "The Hunger Games" trilogy, "Catching Fire."

The movie is slated to jam-pack theaters come its November release. The odds, obviously, are in Lawrence's favor.

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Title: Mystery Priest MissouriText: Was it Serendipitous or Supernatural?

Emergency workers and community members aren't sure what to call it after a mystery priest's prayers at a horrific car accident scene in Missouri may have saved the life of a 19-year-old girl whose parents were told shouldn't have survived.

Stay with the Social Climber on this one.

Katie Lentz was driving from her parents' home in Quincy, Ill. to her internship in Jefferson, Mo., when her car smashed into other vehicle on the highway, USA Today reported. While rescue crews were able to pull Lentz out from her compacted car, it wasn't until a mystifying priest began to pray with the teen that her vital signs began to improve.

"I think it's a miracle," New London, Mo. Fire chief Raymond Reed told USA Today. "I would say whether it was an angel that was sent to us in the form of a priest or a priest that became our angel, I don't know. Either way, I'm good with it."

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Title: Amanda BynesText: Amanda Bynes' flurry of erratic behavior has been known to raise a few eyebrows, but the Social Climber hopes the former child star will soon be on the road to recovery.

A judge granted Bynes' mother, Lynn, temporary conservatorship over her daughter's well-being and finances Friday, which includes deciding where her daughter will live and managing her estimated $3 million fortune.

Amanda, PLEASE get well soon.

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