PREACH IT! And here we thought the Gary Coleman story was over. We’re so naive

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Just days after Gary Coleman’s death stemming from a head injury, the aftermath is shaping up to be the biggest celebrity postmortem circus since Michael Jackson.

In the main tent: ex-wife-slash-maybe-also-future-wife Shannon Price. Price was present at the hospital when Coleman died and apparently gave the OK to pull the plug. That seemed OK, at first, until some reports started surfacing that maybe she didn’t have the authority to pull the plug after all.

Since then, the Gary Coleman death story has taken on a decidedly carnival atmosphere.

First some hospital spokesman popped up to assure us that everything was on the up and up the day Coleman died. Then Price herself started talking -- and talking, making sure everybody knew just how sad she was, and even finding a way to compare the actor to Muhammad Ali.

Meanwhile, over in the Ten-in-One, Coleman’s family has been making news of its own. It canceled ...

... a funeral originally planned for this weekend and has launched a battle over the actor’s remains. He’ll be buried, maybe, in Illinois. Or maybe Utah. Or maybe not. And oh, one more small detail: There, um, may not be a valid will. Todd Bridges says he has one, but nobody really seems to know for sure, on account of the will is secret, see.

And -- heh heh, funny story -- there may not be any money for a funeral at all.

What is it about certain stars that makes their deaths even more surreal than their lives? We have no idea. But we’d love to hear your theories in the comments below.

-- Leslie Gornstein

Related dispatches from the Ministry of Gossip:

PREACH IT! Nothing like a dead celebrity to bring out the classy best in mankind

Funeral arrangements for Gary Coleman being planned

‘Diff’rent Strokes’ actor Gary Coleman has died

Gary Coleman is hospitalized, reportedly in ‘critical condition’ after falling

Gary Coleman’s show will go on in upstate New York

Gary Coleman hospitalized after seizure on ‘The Insider’ set

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