Charlie Noxon, 20, died in Park City, Utah, on New Year’s Eve.
Orange Is the New Black and Weeds creator Jenji Kohan is speaking out after suffering a terrible loss. On New Year’s Eve, her 20-year-old son, Charlie Noxon, died following a skiing accident in Park City, Utah, where he was spending time with his father and two siblings.
In a joint statement issued to the press, Noxon’s parents said that “our hearts are shattered.”
“The cliches about moments like this are true, it turns out,” Kohan and Christopher Noxon said (via E! News). “The one about life forever changing in a split second, about the fact that we are all bound up in a web of love and loss, about the primacy of community in times of unfathomable tragedy.”
On Friday, Kohan posted a tribute to her late son with a series of candid photos and a heartfelt caption on Instagram. “He was my best work. A list of adjectives don’t do him justice. There is no justice,” she wrote.
“I am the luckiest person who ever lived in that I got to spend so much time and help grow this brilliant, funny, truly kind and thoughtful person-man-boy. My baby. My golden child. My beautiful boy. I don’t understand what life is now without him in the world. I don’t understand where he’s gone. And I’m broken. How is this real?”
Christopher Noxon also took to Instagram to post a lengthy message about the loss of his son and the tragedy he and his family are dealing with. “I am staying off social media now and for the foreseeable future but I need to share this as I try to stay present for the unimaginable pain and grace of real life,” he wrote before sharing part of his and Kohan’s joint statement.
He continued by adding, “Charlie was 20 years old and a junior at Columbia. He studied philosophy and economics and Chinese. He loved Bob Dylan, George Saunders and Hayou Miyazaki and so much else. He was questioning, irreverent, curious and kind.
“There are no words. But words are what we’ve got right now, along with tears and hugs and massive quantities of baked goods and deli platters.
“Charlie had a beautiful life of study and argument and travel and food and razzing and adventure and sweetness and most of all love. We cannot conceive of life without him.”
According to multiple reports, Noxon suffered a fall before being taken by helicopter to a nearby hospital.
Page Six added at the time that “Park City ski patrol responded to the incident, which occurred on an intermediate trail near Canyons Village. After further emergency care and evaluation, Noxon was pronounced deceased by Airmed.” In a statement to the publication, Park City Mountain Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Mike Goar said: “Park City Mountain, Park City Mountain Ski Patrol and the entire Vail Resorts family extend our deepest sympathy and support to our guest’s family and friends.”
Noxon was the son of Jenji Kohan and journalist Christopher Noxon, who married in 1997. The two divorced in 2018, after 21 years of marriage. They had three children, including Charlie. Christopher is the brother of Dietland and Sharp Objects creator Marti Noxon.
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