Zappos Founder Planning To Enter Rehab Before Death, His Friends Reveal

Zappos founder Tony Hsieh was making plans to enter a rehab in Hawaii when he died, sources revealed. The multimillionaire, who died in a fatal house fire in Connecticut last month, had been struggling with uncontrolled drug and alcohol use before he acknowledged he needed help days before his death.

Tony Hsieh died in a fatal shed fire on Nov. 27. Investigation into the incident is still underway but authorities initially confirmed that the Harvard-educated entrepreneur had died from smoke inhalation and that the blaze was accidental.

On the night before his death, Tony Hsieh realized he was dangerously close to the edge and told his friends that he would enter a rehab clinic in Hawaii to save himself. He even asked them to check on him every five minutes to make sure he was safe.

Friends of Hsieh revealed that the entrepreneur had been in a downward spiral in the months leading to his death, living each day with increased booze and drug use. During the months he was in isolation due to the pandemic, Hsieh reportedly experimented with psychedelic mushrooms and ecstasy and played with his food and oxygen intake.

Last year, a real estate agent exposed one of Tony Hsieh’s weird obsessions when he revealed seeing about a thousand candles all over his home in Utah. In his 2010 bestselling book about his alternative path to success titled “Delivering Happiness,” Hsieh confirmed his fascination for candles when he said, “the candles were a symbol of what life was like in a simpler time.”

The Zappos founder also loved experimenting with his body, even admitting once that he would use a heater in his girlfriend’s shed to reduce the oxygen level in his body. He also inhaled the laughing gas known as nitrous oxide to decrease his oxygen use.

Friends of Tony Hsieh believe that his quirks might have played a role in his death. They said his use of whippets might have also boosted the acceleration of combustibles around him during the house fire on the night of his death, resulting in him being unable to escape the fire.