Sara Bareilles Tears Up as She Reflects on Losing Friends Gavin Creel and Chad Joseph to Cancer: 'Death Is Really Alive'

Ilana KaplanSat, June 6, 2026 at 3:00 PM UTC

0

Sara Bareilles and Gavin Creel in July 2022 in New York CityCredit: Bruce Glikas/Getty -

Sara Bareilles reflects on two of her friends dying from stage 4 cancer in a new documentary

The actress and singer lost her two best friends, manager Chad Joseph and actor and singer Gavin Creel, during the past few years

Good Grief premiered at Tribeca Film Festival on Thursday, June 4

Sara Bareilles opened up about the grief of two people close to her in her new documentary.

On Thursday, June 4, Good Grief, which details the making of the singer's first album in seven years and the devastation of loss she's faced, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Bareilles, 46, reflects on her best friend from college and manager Chad Joseph receiving a stage 4 lung cancer diagnosis in 2019 and dying midway through the following year.

The "Love Song" hitmaker shares the process of writing a song called "Just a Kid" for her forthcoming album, which is about him.

"It's a little nostalgic on purpose. It feels like college to me. It's about my best friend. It's a joyful, sad song," says Bareilles of the track.

She recalls how Joseph quit his job working for a publicist to help her early on in her career, opening for Maroon 5.

"I don't know what I would have done if he hadn't been there. He, like, saved me," a tearful Bareilles recalls.

She continues, "When we lose people we love, I think what I grieve is the parts that stop feeling so present. There is a piece that fades. It does, whether you want it to or not."

Sara Bareilles and Gavin Creel in April 2022 in N.Y.C.Credit: Bruce Glikas/Getty

Later in the film, footage of Bareilles and best friend Gavin Creel, who died in September 2024 at the age of 48 amid treatment for a rare and aggressive form of cancer called sarcoma, is featured.

Advertisement

Like Joseph, the "Brave" artist reveals Creel had a stage 4 diagnosis as well.

"I'm like, what is this karma to have another best friend, you know, another stage 4 diagnosis?" Bareilles says through tears in the film. "It's very precious to move through that stage of life with someone, and I think I thought I might be more fearful of it, but death is really alive. It's as alive as it gets."

She said that "not shying away from [death] has been a gift."

In a March appearance on All There Is with Anderson Cooper, Bareilles shared her unreleased song "Home" and spoke about how listening to a 2022 conversation on the podcast between Anderson Cooper and Stephen Colbert served as a source of inspiration.

The Girls5eva star had also been navigating her own losses during that time between the deaths of Joseph and Creel.

"I was really moved," said Bareilles in the episode. "You say it in the interview: It's about telling your story, and about telling your story warts and all, is the thing that brings you back home. And I think of home as being a place of connection. Your soul is at peace and at rest when you're in connection."

Bareilles announced her new album Good Grief, which is set to be released on Aug. 28, earlier this week.

In a press release statement, she said that "this whole collection of songs felt like transmissions rather than a deliberate attempt to make sense of the world."

"My deepest hope is that Good Grief provides some kind of comfort or catharsis," added Bareilles.

on People

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”