Rich Piana, a bodybuilder and long-time steroid user, died after two weeks in a medically induced coma.
Rich fainted in the arms of his girlfriend Chanel Jansen while she was trimming his hair, but what else do we know about the fitness model?
Who is Chanel Jansen?
Fitness model Chanel Jansen, sometimes known as Chanel Renee, is the girlfriend of bodybuilder Rich Piana.
While Rich is undoubtedly more renowned online, Chanel has a sizable fan base of her own, with over 89,000 Instagram followers.
She also uploads videos to her YouTube account, which has over 2,400,000 views since she began posting.
Chanel defines herself as a cinematographer, photographer, and global traveller on Instagram.
Following Rich’s collapse in the bathroom, his girlfriend attempted to catch him but was unable to due to his enormous girth.
What has Chanel Jansen said about Rich Piana’s death?
Chanel took to Instagram on August 18 to confirm that Piana was still alive after being placed in an induced coma due to “a medical emergency.”
She said: “I will not be posting any updates after this until further notice. I just want to be clear [Piana] is STILL ALIVE.
“All myself and his family are asking for is POSITIVE thoughts, prayers, and love.
“PLEASE I’m BEGGING you all to have some respect and realize how EXTREMELY difficult this is for us. Thank you to all of you staying positive and sending well wishes, prayers, and love.”
However, Rich’s estranged wife posted a touching tribute on August 25 to her ex, confirming he had died.
Jansen spoke out in an emotional video posted to her lover’s YouTube page, to “clear up rumours” about the bodybuilder’s death.
In a tear-jerking account, she provided a detailed description of the moment the Californian collapsed as she trimmed his hair in their home’s bathroom.
She explained: “[Rich] said ‘I want you to cut my hair’. He leaned forward and I thought he was stretching his neck so I could cut the back of his neck.
“All of a sudden he started to fall back to me. I said ‘baby are you OK?’
“His eyes were rolling into the back of his head.
“I went to catch him but he was sweating and he fell and bumped his head. His eyes were wide open and he was gasping.”
After dialling 911, she was advised to roll him onto his back start compressions.
“I was jumping up and down on him with all my might to keep his heart pumping,” she said.
“[It was] ten minutes before paramedics arrived. When they came in they said he was unresponsive.
“They took him into the living room and worked on him for 20 minutes. They de-fibbed him to get him back and took him to hospital in an ambulance.”
She spoke out again after his death to slam critics who suggested steroids and class A drugs were behind his death.
She denied he took illegal drugs and said he hadn’t been “overly juicing” before he died.
Who was Rich Piana?
Rich Piana, 46, was a professional bodybuilder from Florida who captivated over 1.2 million Instagram followers with his muscly pictures.
In his latter years, he grabbed the internet by storm with his ripped social media posts, training regimens, and supplement business.
In 2016, he revealed that he weighed 22 stone, which was “down” from prior gains.
It was in his blood to be fit. His mother is also a bodybuilder who introduced him to the sport when they lived in California.
