Sahara Ray’s mom, Gretchen Gia Bach, is paying tribute to her late daughter.
“Laying on top of an Airbnb bed somewhere in L.A. at 1 a.m. wearing Sahara’s clothes and sobbing as I read and repost the love letters and tributes to my firstborn daughter,” Bach wrote via her Instagram Stories over a photo of herself wearing cargo jeans while lying on a bed.
Bach then shared several tributes from Ray’s friends and family, including one asking the model’s loved ones to submit “photos, stories and letters” to share with Ray’s daughter, Snow, who was born in January.
Sahara — the eldest daughter of Bach and former pro surfer Tony Ray — died on Sunday, October 18. She was 34.
“She passed away last night surrounded by family at the hospital,” Sahara’s family said in a statement to TMZ on Monday, October 19. “She was so loved.”
An official cause of death has not yet been revealed. Us reached out to Sahara’s team for comment.
Sahara, who was born in Australia and grew up in California, gained fame through her modeling career. She later launched her own swimwear line called Sahara Ray Swim.
Sahara also made headlines for spending time with Justin Bieber in Hawaii in 2016. (She was also reportedly linked to singer and future Traitors star Cody Simpson.)
Sahara revealed in 2024 that she had been diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare neurological disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks the nerves and can cause weakness, numbness or paralysis.
“My whole life changed in an instant,” she wrote via Instagram at the time. “So thankful for my family and doctors for helping me get stronger everyday. Attitude is everything.”
She continued, “Right now, I’m paralyzed from the tops of my upper thighs all the way down to my feet. I can’t walk at all.”
Sahara’s younger sister, Ruby, paid tribute to the content creator on Monday.
“My beautiful big sister, Sahara,” Ruby wrote via Instagram. “The most vivacious, intelligent, hilarious, kind, empathetic and breathtakingly beautiful soul. A force of nature. A light so bright that this world feels impossibly dimmer without her in it.”
She continued, “Sahara has moved from this life into another, and I am left trying to comprehend how someone so full of life can no longer be here to live it. From the moment I entered this world, I looked up to her. In my eyes, she was everything extraordinary about being human. She was magic, she was warmth, she was laughter, she was love. She was, to me, the most incredible person to ever walk this earth.”
