Miss Teen Universe Lotte van der Zee, who won the title back in 2017, has passed away at 19 from a heart attack.
On Thursday, via her Instagram account, parents Bert van der Zee and Eugeniek van het Hul revealed the unfortunate news.
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They posted the (above) pic with the caption:
“Our pearl, our everything passed away on Wednesday evening March 6th at 22:47. It is incredibly surreal that our dearly beloved Lotte is not around us anymore. Our hearts are truly broken… We would like to thank you all again for all the support and heartwarming messages.”
In February on social media, Bert and Eugeniek revealed that during their family ski trip to Westendorf, Austria, Lotte began feeling unwell, and was in sudden cardiac arrest. She was rushed to the hospital where she eventually fell into a coma.
They wrote:
“It is with the deepest sadness that we have to inform you about the reason behind Lotte’s public absence the past couple of days. Two days ago, during our holiday in Westendorf – Austria, Lotte started to feel unwell throughout the course of the afternoon. A feeling that swiftly escalated in sudden cardiac arrest. She was helped to the nearest hospital where she got into a coma and is since then kept a sleep under intensive supervision of the doctors in order to monitor her health.”
Last week, when Lotte was transferred to an academic hospital in Munich despite her static condition, her parents thanked Internet users for their prayers and well-wishes:
“Dear all, ‘If you share grief with each other you can be sad and happy at the same time.’ This is something that you have made us experience this past week. That is why we want to thank you for all the beautiful messages and for your sincere and loving support. It is wonderful to see how many people are intensely involved with Lotte and with us. Even though the feeling of powerlessness made us think that we were in this alone at first we were able to draw a massive amount of strength from all your loving support. We are convinced that Lotte feels this too.'”
According to Dutch newspaper De Limburger, Lotte was out with friends the night before feeling ill. Her parents said she returned “cheerfully and without health complaints.”
However, they noticed Lotte looked sick in the morning when she didn’t show up for breakfast. In the afternoon, her condition unfortunately got worse.
Bert and Eugeniek told the publication they plan to do tests to see what caused Lotte’s heart attack.
She reportedly passed away a day before her 20th birthday.
May she rest in peace.
[Image via Lotte Van Der Zee/Instagram.]
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