Troubled heiress Casey Johnson had lots of celebrity friends, but she died alone in bed and it was days before anybody noticed she was gone.
“Sweet dreams everyone,” the 30-year-old socialite Tweeted at 1:12 a.m. on Dec. 29. “I’m getting a new car.”
Seven days later, a maid let out a scream when she found Johnson’s body in her West Hollywood pad.
Johnson, whose father, Woody, owns the New York Jets, had been dead for several days, TMZ.com reported, citing Los Angeles law enforcement sources.
A diabetic with a drinking and drug problem who was twice hospitalized after falling into comas, Johnson’s apartment was littered with insulin syringes, TMZ.com reported.
The Los Angeles County corner’s office will do an autopsy to determine what killed Johnson, but it was a lonely end for a young woman who lived so much of her life chasing the spotlight.
A beautiful blonde lesbian, Johnson recently announced her engagement to bisexual reality TV star Tila Tequila, 28, in an online video.
Tequila, according to MTV.com and other reports, last saw Johnson on New Year Eve. She confirmed the death of “my Wifey Casey Johnson” in a Twitter message after Johnson’s body was found.
Paris Hilton, who was one of Johnson’s party pals, also Tweeted her grief, writing: “I feel like I’ve lost a sister.”
Johnson’s dad was savoring the Jets’ triumphant wild card berth in the NFL playoffs when he got the devastating news.
“The Johnson family is mourning its tragic loss and asks for privacy during this very difficult time,” a spokesman for the heir to the empire said.
Johnson’s death closed the book on the life of an upper East Side rich girl, who grew up in the lap of luxury and was pals of Paris and Nicky Hilton, the godmother of Johnson’s adopted daughter.
“I’ve known Casey since I was a baby,” Paris Hilton told Life & Style magazine. “She had a big heart and she was a good friend. I feel so sad, I don’t want to believe it. My condolences go out to her family and loved ones.”
Johnson moved to L.A. eight years ago and quickly became fodder for gossip columns as the hard-partying heiress to the Johnson & Johnson fortune.
In addition to battling addictions to drugs and alcohol that several trips to rehab failed to conquer, the heiress was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes as a little girl, a friend told the Daily News.
“Of course, the drinking and drug-taking didn’t help,” the friend said. “She was active in raising public awareness about juvenile diabetes, but she abused her own body.”
The friend said Johnson’s parents were at a loss as to how to help straighten her life out.
“They supported her lifestyle for a long time, but, lately, they’d been keeping their distance from her, trying to show some tough love,” the friend said. “I’m sure they’re devastated and racked with guilt.”
Johnson and her mother, Sale, were often at odds. When Sale Johnson married former NFL great Ahmad Rashad in 2007, her daughter didn’t show up for the wedding.
Still, in an interview that same year, Johnson sounded like she was turning her life around, announcing she had founded a skin care line called Journey.
She also discussed her adoption of a daughter, Ava, now 3, from Kazakhstan early in 2007.
Johnson told LXTV she was determined not to spoil her daughter like she was as a child.
“When she gets to be like 8, 9, 10, 11 years old, and she says, ‘Mommy, I want this,’ she’s not going to get everything she wants,” Johnson said. “I did growing up, and when it was my turn to handle my own money it became a problem. I’m used to going to Bergdorf’s and having a personal shopper, and buying whatever I want and charging it to my dad.”
A friend said Johnson’s life seemed to be spiraling out of control after her mother took custody of her daughter to “get her out of harm’s way.”
She came to New York recently to battle to get her daughter back, but was hampered by finances that were in shambles.
Her father recently cut off her trust fund because she couldn’t sober up, friends said.
“She was a lost little girl who just wanted to be loved,” AOL‘s PopEater columnist Rob Shuter, who had lunch with Casey about eight months ago, told The News. “She had a difficult relationship with her family’s huge wealth. She loved the life it gave her, but it also made everything she did feel worthless.
“She once described her family money as the ‘golden handcuffs.’ She was the ultimate little, lost rich girl.”
In November, Casey was arrested on grand theft charges, accused of breaking into the Hollywood apartment of her ex-girlfriend, fashion model Jasmine Lennard.
“I tried to get her off drugs and alcohol,” Lennard recently said in a published report. “I tried to get her into a 12-step program. I tried to help take care of her daughter. I’ve given her money.”
Friends and neighbors of Woody Johnson at his home on Columbus Circle expressed shock at the death of a young woman who seemingly had it all.
Family friend, Suzanne Webster, called Casey “a sweet but troubled girl.”
“Her family was concerned over her well-being the past year,” Webster said. “She had given them pause with her behavior, but I don’t think anyone expected this.”
ndillon@nydailynews.com
