When Bernie Mac was admitted last month into a Chicago hospital with a fever and trouble breathing, his wife, Rhonda, thought he’d get treatment and would be home in a week. But after no signs of improvement, she faced her biggest fear.

“He didn’t look good to me and I knew this could be it,” Rhonda, his wife of 30 years, tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue.

The 50-year-old comedian – who suffered from sarcoidosis, an immune system disorder that can affect the lungs – died Aug. 9 of complications due to pneumonia.

The couple had their last exchange a day before his death, as Rhonda stood vigil by his bedside. “I said, ‘Hey Bernard. How are you?’ and I kissed his forehead,” she recalls. “He shrugged his shoulders, like ‘I’m tired’ and I said, ‘I know you’re tired.’ Later on that night, it took a turn for the worse.”

Rhonda and the couple’s daughter, Je’Niece, 30, were ushered into a waiting room, where they received the grim news. “[The doctor] came in and I said, ‘He’s gone, isn’t he?’ and she said ‘yes,’ ” Rhonda recalls.

The family now prepares for Mac’s memorial service, to be held at noon Saturday, Aug. 16 at the 10,000-seat House of Hope in Chicago. His wife says she’s comforted by the support of her family and memories of the man she met when she was a 16-year-old junior and he was a 17-year-old senior at Chicago Vocational High School. She was immediately charmed by his humor.

Memories of Courtship
“He said, ‘You never seen a black man as pretty as me.’ And I said, ‘No, I sure haven’t.’ And he said, ‘Girl, you know I’m so beautiful,’” she remembers.

A few months later, on Valentine’s Day, he asked her to come to his shop class so he could give her something. When she got there, “I said, ‘What do you have for me?’ And he kissed me. That was our first kiss.” The couple wed in 1977 when both were 19-years-old. Daughter Je’Niece was born the following year.

Now facing her life without Mac, Rhonda says her devastation “comes in waves,” adding she still feels her husband’s presence. The day after his death, she listened to the song “Thoughts and Wishes” by Hamilton Bohannon, a tune the couple considered “our song,” Rhonda says.

“I was singing it and a chill just came over me and I knew it was him,” she said. “I get through because I know he’s in a better place now.”

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Catherine Zeta-Jones’ beloved grandmother has died. She was 91.

Zeta Jones, who the actress was named after, passed away at her daughter Valerie’s home in the family’s native Swansea, Wales earlier this week. She is the mother of Zeta-Jones’ businessman father Dai and is believed to have suffered from ill health in her final days.

The Hollywood star is expected to fly back from Bermuda, where she now lives with husband Michael Douglas and their two children, to attend Jones’ funeral.

And her death has left her close-knit family devastated.

A family friend says, “Zeta had been unwell for a short while and unfortunately had to miss a family birthday party recently. The family have been hit very hard by it because she was so loved by them all.”

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A memorial service for the late Isaac Hayes will be held on Monday in Cordova, TN, to celebrate the life of the soul icon, who died of a stroke associated with hypertension on Sunday. He was 65.

The family of the “Shaft” singer and former “South Park” chef says, “We are overwhelmed with the outpouring of support and love from Isaac’s dear friends, colleagues and fans from every corner of the world, and we thank each and every one of them for their kind thoughts and prayers. While he was an iconic figure to many, to us he was husband, father and friend. We will ever miss his love, wisdom, humor and the familiar comfort of his voice.”

The service at Hope Presbyterian Church will run from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. In lieu of flowers, Hayes family requests that donations be sent to the Stax Music Academy in Memphis, made out to Soulsville, 926 E. McLemore Avenue, Memphis, TN 38106. Please specify “In memory of Isaac Hayes.” Condolences may be sent to the family at message@isaachayes.com.

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WENN

Authorities in Memphis say Isaac Hayes apparently died of a stroke. The deep-voiced soul singer died Sunday after he was found unconscious at his Memphis residence.

Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Shular said Tuesday that paperwork filed by Hayes’ family physician, Dr. David Kraus, lists the cause of death as a stroke.

Shular said no autopsy has been performed. No official determination has been released by the medical examiner’s office or filed with the Memphis health department, which issues death certificates.

Family members found Hayes lying on the floor of his home beside a treadmill that was still switched on. Relatives said Hayes was under a doctor’s care but did not give specifics.

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Soul music pioneer Isaac Hayes – whose 1971 “Theme from Shaft” won the Oscar and Grammys – died Sunday in Memphis, where he lived. He was 65.

A releative discovered an unresponsive Hayes near an exercise machine in their home at midday, and Hayes was pronounced dead at 2:10 p.m. when he arrived at Baptist East Hospital in Memphis, the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office tells People.

“The family had last seen him about noon,” says Steve Shular, public information officer for that office. “Family members had gone to the grocery store and left him home. When the family came home around 1, his wife’s cousin found him lying on the floor in the basement near a treadmill. The treadmill was running, so it is believed that he had been working out.”

Although the hospital is still determining the cause of death, Shular says Hayes most likely died of natural causes.

“There doesn’t seem to be any foul play,” says Shular. “We don’t see anything suspicious about his death. There will be a further statement from the hospital about the cause of death.”

Family members said the singer, who had a history of high blood pressure, had recently been treated for various medical conditions. In January 2006, news sources reported that Hayes had suffered a mild stroke. At the time, friends said the condition was brought on by exhaustion.

South Park Favorite
With his distinct basso profundo (his voice seemed emanate in his feet), from 1997 to 2006, Hayes voiced the role of South Park’s school-cafeteria sage, Chef. However, he abruptly quit over what he considered the show’s disrespect for religion.

South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone speculated that Hayes was offended by the show’s treatment of his faith, Scientology.

Born in Covington, Tenn., Hayes was a self-taught musician. At age 22, he was hired by Stax Records of Memphis to play backup for piano and sax for Otis Redding and others. In the ’60s, with David Porter, he wrote soul hits for Sam and Dave (”Hold On, I’m Coming” and “Soul Man”), the Associated Press reports.

Rock Hall of Famer
This led to a recording contract, and by the early ’70s he was working with chart-topper Barry White. Hayes struck gold with the “Theme from Shaft,” by which time he had been a music star for two years – ever since the release of his 1969 album Hot Buttered Soul.

In terms of further distinctions, his Best Original Song Oscar for Shaft made him the first African-American songwriter to nab the coveted award. He was also elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.

As an actor, Hayes played the title character in the 1974 action film Hot Truck Turner, 2005’s Hustle & Flow (starring Terrence Howard) and had a recurring role on the 1970s TV police drama The Rockford Files, starring James Garner. He is also set to appear in a small part in the movie Soul Men, a comedy led by Samuel L. Jackson and the late Bernie Mac.

Family Man
In 2006, Hayes’s welcomed a son, who was named Nana Kwadjo Hayes. It was the musician’s first child with his wife Adjowa. (They were married in 2005.)

Hayes reportedly had 12 children, 14 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

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WENN

Bernie Mac’s wife and daughter were with the late comedian in his last moments and were able to bid him a touching goodbye, his sister-in-law tells People magazine.

Mary Ann Grossett, the sister of Mac’s wife Rhonda, spoke to the magazine about the final moments before the 50-year-old entertainer died.

“He opened his eyes on his own and looked at Rhonda. She called his name, and he opened his eyes and nodded to her. She smiled at him and told him, ‘Don’t leave me … ‘I’m waiting for you to come back.’ He shrugged his shoulders, and she said that’s when she knew he was tired. He signaled to her that his body was tired.”

“What she (Rhonda) will treasure the most is the fact that she was his wife for 30 years – and not only was she his wife, but she was his best friend. She’s going to miss him dearly,” Grossett told People.

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WENN

Bernie Mac, the Emmy and Golden Globe nominated actor and comedian who worked his way to Hollywood success from an impoverished upbringing on Chicago’s South Side, died Saturday at age 50.

“Actor/comedian Bernie Mac passed away this morning from complications due to pneumonia in a Chicago area hospital,” his publicist, Danica Smith, said in a statement from Los Angeles, California.

She said no other details were available and asked that his family’s privacy be respected.

The comedian suffered from sarcoidosis, an inflammatory lung disease that produces tiny lumps of cells in the body’s organs, but had said the condition went into remission in 2005. He recently was hospitalized and treated for pneumonia, which his publicist said was not related to the disease.

Recently, Mac’s brand of comedy caught him flack when he was heckled during a surprise appearance at a July fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidate and fellow Chicagoan Barack Obama.

Toward the end of a 10-minute standup routine, Mac joked about menopause, sexual infidelity and promiscuity, and used occasional crude language. The performance earned him a rebuke from Obama’s campaign.

But despite controversy or difficulties, in his words, Mac was always a performer.  “Wherever I am, I have to play,” he said in 2002. “I have to put on a good show.”

Mac started his comedy career at age 8, with a standup performance at a church dinner. In 1977, at age 20, he took that act to comedy clubs in Chicago.

His film career started with a small role as a club doorman in the Damon Wayans movie “Mo’ Money” in 1992. In 1996, he appeared in the Spike Lee drama “Get on the Bus.”

Mac went on to star in the “Ocean’s Eleven” franchise with Brad Pitt and George Clooney. His turn with Ashton Kutcher in 2005’s “Guess Who?” — a remake of the Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn 1967 classic “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?” — topped the box office.

Mac also had starring roles in “Bad Santa,” “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle” and “Transformers.”

In the late 1990s, he had a recurring role in “Moesha,” the UPN network comedy starring pop star Brandy.

The comedian drew critical and popular acclaim with his Fox television series “The Bernie Mac Show,” which aired more than 100 episodes from 2001 to 2006.

The series about a man’s adventures raising his sister’s three children won a Peabody Award in 2002. At the time, judges wrote they chose the sitcom for transcending “race and class while lifting viewers with laughter, compassion — and cool.” iReport.com: Share your appreciation for Bernie Mac

The show garnered Golden Globe and Emmy nominations for Mac.

“But television handcuffs you, man,” he said in a 2001 Associated Press interview. “Now everyone telling me what I CAN’T do, what I CAN say, what I SHOULD do, and asking, ‘Are blacks gonna be mad at you? Are whites gonna accept you?”‘

He also was nominated for a Grammy award for best comedy album in 2001 along with his “The Original Kings of Comedy” co-stars, Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley and Cedric The Entertainer.

In 2007, Mac told David Letterman on CBS’ “Late Show” that he planned to retire soon.

“I’m going to still do my producing, my films, but I want to enjoy my life a little bit,” Mac told Letterman. “I missed a lot of things, you know. I was a street performer for two years. I went into clubs in 1977.”

Mac was born Bernard Jeffrey McCullough on October 5, 1957, in Chicago. He grew up on the city’s South Side, living with his mother and grandparents. His grandfather was a deacon in a Baptist church.

In his 2004 memoir, “Maybe You Never Cry Again,” Mac wrote about having a poor childhood — eating bologna for dinner — and a strict, no-nonsense upbringing.

Mac’s mother died of cancer when he was 16. In his book, Mac said she was a support for him and told him he would surprise everyone when he grew up.

“Woman believed in me,” he wrote. “She believed in me long before I believed.”

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