‘The Pee-Wee Herman Show’s Paul Reubens Kept His Illness a Secret for Years until He Died Alone without Wife or Kids

• "Pee-Wee Herman" star Paul Reubens kept his illness private until his death.
• He exchanged vows with one woman, but the marriage didn't last, and he had no children.
• Before his death, he lived in his home alone and passed away without telling his fans he was sick.

Paul Reubens was best known for his role as the popular children's TV character Pee-Wee Herman. The franchised show gained significant popularity during the late 1980s and early 1990s, with children worldwide enjoying the show.

While Reubens interacted with children often, he never got to raise his own and was not married when he passed away. Instead, he lived a relatively solitary existence.

Reubens was born to a teacher mother, and a car salesman father and grew up in Florida. When he left high school, he went to Boston University for a year but decided to become an actor instead, leaving for Hollywood to pursue a career.

By the mid-1970s, he was gaining more roles, and his career was starting to take off. He was an actor and comedian, but his career skyrocketed when he began "The Pee-Wee Herman Show" in the late 1980s.

By the mid-1990s, the show and character had gained so much popularity that there were spinoff shows. His fame grew as the character did, and he quickly became a household name who will now be missed by many.

Reubens' Last Years of Fame

While Reubens' fame quickly grew, he promptly lost it in 1991 when he was arrested for lewd behavior in a movie theatre. Because of this, the actor's net worth in 2022 was a mere $5 million, despite his many works over the years.

In 2020, Reubens lived in the home he had bought 35 years before with the money he earned from his movie "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure." Yet he was in love with a house called The Witch's House of Beverly Hills, which was on the market for $6.6 million in June 2022. Unfortunately, Reubens never got to call that home his own.

Apart from the home he lived in for nearly four decades off the earnings of a production that aired in the 1980s, Reubens didn't drive a fancy car like many Hollywood actors. He drove a Honda Accord but admitted he filled his home with collectibles over the years.

A representative for the actor said he had passed away from a long battle with cancer. The actor shared a post-humous post through his representative that read:

"Please accept my apology for not going public with what I've been facing the last six years. I have always felt a huge amount of love and respect from my friends, fans, and supporters. I have loved you all so much and enjoyed making art for you."

Not even those closest to Reubens knew that he was dying. One of his close costars, E. G. Daily, said she knew something was wrong with him in recent years but had no idea the extent of it.

Daily knew something was wrong because her friend no longer wanted to be out or seen. She said he would always decline without telling her why he didn't accept her invites to go out.

Soon after the announcement, Reubens began receiving tributes from other celebrities who had worked with him. One was from Ricki Lake, who shared a video of Reubens and said he felt "unbearable sadness" at the news.

Eric Stonestreet also shared a video of Reubens and said the actor had sent him funny memes on his birthday every year and that Reubens was unique. Stonestreet said the video was the last birthday message he ever got from Reubens, and he would cherish it forever.

Jimmy Fallon also shared a video of Reubens on "The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon," which was one of his last public outings. Fans and other celebrities shared their favorite Reubens memories in the video's comments.

Before Reubens passed away from cancer, he had some experience with the disease. The actor's father died at 84 in 2004 after battling cancer, and Reubens cared for him as often as he could 19 years before his own death.