Australian swimwear designer and model Sahara Ray has died at the age of 34.
Her family said on Monday that she “passed away last night surrounded by family at the hospital,” TMZ reports. A cause of death is yet to be confirmed. “She was so loved,” her family told the outlet.
Ray had most recently been sharing her pregnancy journey with her large social media audience. Earlier this year, she gave birth to her first child, Snow. Her last Instagram post, shared in July, included several images of her baby and the caption “my whole heart … baby Snow”.
In 2024, Ray said she had been diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare disorder that causes the immune system to attack the body’s nervous system, after being hit by a car travelling at 128km/h.
“It basically set my body into shock which sent my body into this crazy sickness and I got really, really sick for a week-and-a-half to two weeks,” she said at the time.
She also posted a TikTok video giving a “life update” on her condition. “I honestly don’t even know how to start this video, I’m so overwhelmed with what’s going on with me,” she said at the time.
“So basically, right now I’m paralysed from the tops of my upper thighs all the way down to my feet. I can’t walk at all.”
“I am primarily in a wheelchair and I have a walker,” she said, adding that she “can barely walk” with the walker.
There is no cure for the syndrome, though treatment can help relieve symptoms, according to Mayo Clinic. Recovery can take several years, but most people are able to walk again after six months of treatment. The condition’s first symptom is usually weakness and tingling in the hands and feet.
Those posts about her illness have since been deleted. In more recent uploads, Ray was seen walking freely while heavily pregnant.
The daughter of legendary Australian big wave surfer Tony Ray, she spent her early years travelling the world with her father. Living mainly between Australia, California and Hawaii, she first rose to prominence on social media, built a profile as a model and then launched her swimwear label, Sahara Ray Swim, in 2014.
In 2016, rumours swirled that she was romantically involved with pop megastar Justin Bieber after the pair were photographed together in Hawaii.
