America’s Next Top Model alum Jael Strauss died on Tuesday, December 4, at age 34 after a brief battle with breast cancer. The former reality star passed away in hospice care at about 11 a.m., Us Weekly can confirm
TMZ reports that Strauss’ death comes just two months after she revealed she had been diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer and that she had reportedly been unconscious for a few days. The website notes her family had stopped allowing visitors in recent days.
A post on Strauss’ Facebook page revealed on Thanksgiving that she was spending her first night in hospice. “So many things I never knew about life,” the ANTM TV personality wrote at the time. “Or death. So many things.”
The season 8 contestant announced her diagnosis in a Facebook post in October.
“I was gonna write some long thing but some of you guys deserve to know,” she wrote at the time. “On October 2nd I was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer. It has aggressively spread throughout my body and is incurable. With treatment, it may prolong my life longer than the ‘few months’ doctors said I could make it. I don’t want to die.”
Seemingly referring to her prior crystal meth addiction — which she opened up about to Dr. Phil in 2012 — Strauss added: “I need another one of those miracles that I got back in 2013.” She celebrated five years of sobriety in August.
Following news of her diagnosis, a GoFundMe page was created to help Strauss pay medical bills.
“At the end of September, Jael became very sick and was diagnosed with aggressive Stage IV Rapidly Progressive Metastatic Inflammatory Breast Cancer,” the description on the page read. “It has metastasized and spread beyond the breast tissue. She has just begun chemo, but we do not know how things will play out. What we do know is that Jael is putting all of her energy and drive into fighting this insidious disease and can use as much support and love as possible.”
