‘So You Think You Can Dance’ Finalist Donyelle Jones Dead at 46

So You Think You Can Dance alum Donyelle Jones died Tuesday following a lengthy battle with cancer. She was 46.

The dancer’s family announced her death on social media Tuesday, nearly a decade after she was first diagnosed with breast cancer.

“Today at 8:34am, Donyelle Denise Wilson, transitioned,” they wrote, using Jones’ real name. “A wife. A daughter. A sister. A friend. And a warrior who kicked cancer’s ass every single day she was here.”

“Her spirit never dimmed. Her heart never hardened. And even in the storm, she never lost her smile,” they continued, concluding, “#GIWMA.”

Jones took to Instagram just last week with a “Legacy Statement,” telling her followers, “It has come to the point where I have started to get my affairs in order.”

“Most of you guys know, at this point, I am in hospice. I have done everything possible to extend my time here in this dimension and, at this point, I have surrendered to whatever God’s will is,” she continued. “And if God’s will is that he heals my liver, which is not functioning and not making me able to eat, and I get that miraculous healing, and I’m audacious enough to believe that he can do it — but I’m also cognizant enough to know that I’ve received 10 years of miracles.”

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Jones continued, “What else can I possibly ask for, but for his discernment on when it’s his time for me to have my time on this side come to an end?”

Thanking everyone who had supported her throughout the years, Jones shared a final thought with her followers — to “get back to community” and “family.” As she noted, “Nobody does anything alone.”

Jones finished third on Season 2 of So You Think You Can Dance in 2006, behind runner-up Travis Wall and winner Benji Schwimmer. She would go on to appear in the 2005 Uma Thurman and John Travolta movie Be Cool, as well as the 2022 Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds movie Spirited.