Former Miss Teen Universe Lotte van der Zee died Wednesday after suffering a heart attack last month, her parents said. She was 19.
“Our pearl, our everything passed away on Wednesday evening March 6th at 22:47,” her parents, Bert van der Zee and Eugeniek van het Hut, wrote on van der Zee’s official Instagram page.
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“It is incredibly surreal that our dearly beloved Lotte is not around us anymore,” her parents wrote. “Our hearts are truly broken. We would like to thank you all again for all the support and heartwarming messages.”
Van der Zee reportedly died just a day before her 20th birthday, according to E! News.
Back on Feb. 22, her parents shared a photo on Instagram, explaining why their daughter had not used her social media pages in almost a week. Two days earlier, van der Zee “started to feel unwell throughout” the afternoon and 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,” her parents wrote at the time. “Thank you in advance for the loving words about our daughter. We are grateful for everyone’s support and sincerely thank you for your love and positivity in these times when she needs it most.”
On March 1, van der Zee’s parents shared a photo of them holding their daughter’s hand in a Munich hospital. In the caption, they wrote that van der Zee’s condition had not changed.
“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,” van der Zee’s parents wrote. “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.”
Van der Zee won Miss Teen Universe in 2017. The pageant’s organizers sent her family their condolences on Instagram.
“Losing someone we loved is not easy, but knowing that we have been able to be part of her life, it hast been amazing journey, we now realize that we were blessed the your share your life and career with us,” the statement read. “[Van der Zee] Our deepest condolences to your family and friends.”
The cause for the heart attack is still unknown. Her parents told the Dutch newspaper Limberger van der Zee was with friends the night before and returned feeling fine. In the morning, she missed breakfast and her parents noticed she was sick. Her parents said they want tests done to explain their daughter’s sudden death.
Photo credit: Instagram/Lotte van der Zee
