AP: Los Angeles, California
Via Celebcity.com
Bentley Royce, celebrity daughter of the Royce reality television dynasty, and T. Wilson White, heir apparent to the Whiteboyz music label as well as fiancé to Royce’s older sister, Porsche, are presumed dead this morning, following the discovery of burning wreckage in a cliffside ravine off Mulholland Drive.
The vehicle, a white late-model Audi, is registered in the name of T. Wilson White, who appears to have given the wheel over to his teen companion. According to witnesses, these were the only two people in the car. Royce allegedly lost control of the Audi just after 1 a.m., only hours before White’s much-anticipated wedding to Royce’s sister was scheduled to take place. That ceremony was to be televised as the season six finale of Rolling with the Royces.
According to sources, White and Royce were returning home from a wedding rehearsal dinner at the exclusive Soho House in West Hollywood when their car veered off the winding mountaintop road made famous by the death of Hollywood bad boy James Dean, dubbed “Deadman’s Curve.”
A low-profile yet high-ranking music producer (known in some industry circles as “Whitey”4), White avoided the limelight much of his young life, though in recent months he often appeared in the public company of his future bride. His swift rise to the top job at the Whiteboyz label, upon the announcement of his father Razz Jazzy’s impending retirement, came as a surprise to many.
In contrast, seventeen-year-old Royce’s turbulent teen troubles were often documented on her family’s show. Her own relationship with the media was legendarily uncomfortable.
No further information has been provided at this time. “But I can say that the ceremony has been postponed,” confirmed Rolling with the Royces producer and spokesperson Pam Pearson, “due to the absence of the groom.”
Veteran detective Harry Connolly, working with the LAPD’s Homicide Special Section, has refused to address overwhelming media speculation that the incident was not a simple accident.
The balance of the family now remains in seclusion at their luxury home5 in Beverly Hills’ Trousdale Park gated community. The Royce family has yet to release a public statement. White’s parents have still not surfaced since their sudden move to an unnamed South American destination earlier this year, prompting rumors of a tax evasion investigation.
The Lifespan Network issued the following comment, via network exec Jeff Grunburg: “Today the Lifespan family has lost one of our own. We are shocked and saddened by the events of the past twenty-four hours, and urge everyone to withhold judgment until the investigation concludes. We ask to be allowed to grieve in public [sic] at this difficult time.” The now-canceled wedding ceremony is rumored to have cost in excess of $3 million, the bulk of which was paid by corporate sponsors, including Porsche Royce’s own cosmetics line and the Lifespan Network.
One of the biggest family success stories in Hollywood, the Royces (Porsche Royce; her mother, Mercedes; younger sister, Bentley; and younger brother, Maybach) rose to fame as the stars of their hit reality television show (known to fans as RWTR).
Now concluding its sixth season, RWTR is currently the most popular serialized cable program in the 18-to-24 age bracket, recently edging ahead of the hunting season cooking show and cable newcomer Duke of Ducks.6 DOD was rated a mouthwatering first across all age demographics until Porsche Royce’s wedding coverage emerged to pluck the feathers from its crown.
#Roycers, as fans of the show are known, are also making their way to the Trousdale gates, leaving offerings of notes, flowers, candles and stuffed animals as they hold vigil in the memory of lives and loves lost so young.
(Disclosure: Celebcity is a fully owned subsidiary of the Lifespan Network, which is a fully owned subsidiary of DiosGlobale.)
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