Image copyright Getty Images
Lady Gaga has paid tribute to model Rick Genest, who has died at the age of 32.
Rick was known as Zombie Boy, due to bone and organ tattoos across his body, including skull features on his face.
He was found dead at his home in Montreal, Canada and is believed to have killed himself, reports say.
Rick appeared in Gaga's Born This Way video in 2011 and the singer says the loss is "beyond devastating."
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Lady Gaga painted her face like Rick's in her Born This Way video
"We have to work harder to change the culture, bring mental health to the forefront and erase the stigma that we can't talk about it," she wrote on Twitter.
"If you are suffering, call a friend or family today. We must save each other."
She followed this by sharing a photo of herself and Rick - and urging fans who might be struggling with their mental health to "reach out".
Rick modelled for French fashion designer Thierry Mugler, appeared in Vogue Japan and was once the face of Jay-Z's Rocawear fashion label.
He was 32 at the time of his death. His body was found six days before his 33rd birthday.
Rick's management posted a tribute on Facebook, saying they were "shocked and pained" by his death.
"Rico was loved by all those who had the chance to meet him and know him," said the post.
"We received the unfortunate news at the beginning of the afternoon and members of the team have come to support his family and relatives in this dark and difficult moment.
"We want to present our deepest condolences... Thank you zb for these beautiful moments in your company and for your radiant smile."
If you are in the UK, you can call the Samaritans on 116 123 if you are struggling with mental health issues.
You can also get help at the BBC Advice pages.
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Rick 'Zombie Boy' Genest, model favorit Lady Gaga, bunuh diri. (Foto: instagram/@zombieboyofficial) Rick 'Zombie Boy' Genest, model favorit Lady Gaga, bunuh diri. (Foto: instagram/@zombieboyofficial)
The suicide of friend Rick Genest, Zombie Boy is beyond devastating. We have to work harder to change the culture, bring Mental Health to the forefront and erase the stigma that we can't talk about it. If you are suffering, call a friend or family today. We must save each other. pic.twitter.com/THz6x5JlpB
— Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) August 3, 2018
- Kabar duka datang dari industri fashion. Rick 'Zombie Boy' Genest, model yang pernah muncul di video klip 'Born This Way' Lady Gaga meninggal dunia karena bunuh diri.Rick yang terkenal berkat tato yang menghiasi sekujur tubuhnya itu ditemukan tak bernyawa di rumahnya di Montreal, Kanada, Rabu (1/8/2018). Menurut iHeartRadio, seperti dilansir dari People, bunuh diri menjadi penyebab kematian pria 32 tahun itu.Kepergian sang Zombie Boy rupanya meninggalkan duka yang mendalam bagi Lady Gaga. Pelantun 'Million Reasons' itu pun sempat meluapkan rasa dukanya lewat cuitan di Twitter. "Kematian Rick Genest, Zombie Boy, akibat bunuh diri sungguh menyedihkan," kata penyanyi berjulukan Mother Monster itu.Lady Gaga pun mengajak para pengikutnya untuk lebih peka lagi terhadap masalah kesehatan mental dengan menghapus stigma bahwa isu tersebut tabu untuk dibicarakan. "Jika kamu merasa tertekan, telepon seorang teman atau anggota keluarga sekarang juga. Kita harus saling menjaga," tambah penyanyi 32 tahun itu.Dijuluki Zombie Boy, Rick mulai merebut perhatian publik setelah tampil dengan tubuhnya yang penuh tato bergambar tengkorak dan otak, dari ujung kepala hingga kaki. Penampilan uniknya lantas membuahkan rekor Guinness World Record untuk tato serangga terbanyak (176 gambar) dan tato tulang manusia terbanyak (139 terbanyak).Sang Zombie Boy juga mendapat tawaran untuk tampil di beberapa fashion show di Paris dan Milan. Sosoknya semakin populer setelah muncul di video klip Lady Gaga yang berjudul 'Born This Way' 2011 silam.Kematian Rick menambah daftar deretan figur publik yang meninggal dunia karena bunuh diri dalam kurun tiga bulan terakhir. Mereka di antaranya desainer Kate Spade dan koki ternama Anthony Bourdain.
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Rick Genest, the heavily tattooed model known as Zombie Boy, has died aged just 32.
He was known for his head-to-toe tattoos and starred alongside Lady Gaga in her Born This Way music video in 2011.
Zombie Boy's body was found in his apartment in the Plateau-Mont-Royal neighbourhood in Montreal, Canada, on Wednesday.
Gaga has said the death is "beyond devastating" and revealed he had taken his own life.
The Canadian model, who would have celebrated his 33rd birthday on August 7, got his first tattoo when he was 16 and by the time he was 19, had covered his entire body in ink.
After being spotted by Gaga's stylist, he ended up featuring in the singer's video, and from there his fame skyrocketed.
He appeared in a number of modelling campaigns for high-end fashion brands as well as magazines such as GQ and Vogue.
(Image: Getty)
(Image: FilmMagic)
He also had bit parts in a number of movies and TV series, including 2013 film 47 Ronin and more recently Silent Witness.
On Thursday Gaga tweeted to speak of her heartbreak and call for improved awareness around mental health.
She said: "The suicide of friend Rick Genest, Zombie Boy is beyond devastating. We have to work harder to change the culture, bring Mental Health to the forefront and erase the stigma that we can't talk about it."
Gaga, 32, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, added: "If you are suffering, call a friend or family today. We must save each other."
(Image: REUTERS)
Genest’s model management company, Dulcedo, said they were “shocked and pained by this tragedy”.
At the age of 15, Rick discovered he had a brain tumour and was told he could die or be left disfigured.
"I guess this spiralled me into becoming obsessed with the morbid and macabre," he told the Mirror in late 2016.
"As it happened, the operation to remove the tumour went without a hitch, but since then, I’ve known life was too short to not fulfil my dreams of tattoos and body modifications."
He had his very first tattoo, a skull and crossbones on his shoulder, shortly after his operation.
The model said his nickname, Zombie, was given to him by his pals.
"I was then nicknamed Zombie by my friends. When you’re messing around on the streets and getting in trouble, you have a nickname to cover yourself.
"Zombie came from my love of punk and skulls."
(Image: CPG Photography Ltd/Rex Shutterstock)
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Zombie Boy before the tattoos: How beating a brain tumour sparked his 'living skeleton' transformation before stardom
He holds the Guinness World Record for his 176 insect tattoos and another for most bone tattoos.
Talking about his ink obsession, he added to the Mirror: "I became addicted to tattoos and now have a complete body suit (minus by privates) and a full facial tattoo of a skeleton-style face and zombie-like brain.
"It suits me and my journey perfectly."
Previously speaking about working with Lady Gaga, he said: "She is really fun and really professional. She gave me a big hug when I met her and she laughed at my jokes.
"A lot of people ask me about when I got my first tattoo but she asked me: 'At what age did you first think about getting your first tattoo?'.
"My response was when I was about five or six years old. I liked that question."
Samaritans (116 123) operates a 24-hour service available every day of the year. If you prefer to write down how you’re feeling, or if you’re worried about being overheard on the phone, you can email Samaritans at jo@samaritans.org
The model and actor was found dead at his home in Montreal from an apparent suicide
Rick Genest, the model known as Zombie Boy, whose heavily tattooed body made him a muse for Lady Gaga, Marc Quinn and numerous fashion designers, has died aged 32.
Dulcedo Management, the Montreal talent and model agency that represented Genest, confirmed his death on Facebook. “The whole Dulcedo family is shocked and saddened by this tragedy,” they wrote, describing Genest as someone who “charmed all hearts” and who was loved by all who met him.
“Thank you ZB for these beautiful moments in your company and for your radiant smile,” they added.
He was found dead at his home in Montreal on Thursday. Police sources told Radio-Canada that his death is being classified as a suicide.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Zombie Boy in London in 2016. Photograph: CPG Photography Ltd/Rex/Shutterstock
As news of his death broke, tributes poured in to the artist – who went from living on the streets of Montreal as a squeegee kid to high-end modelling shows in Paris and Berlin.
Lady Gaga, who had cast Genest in her 2011 Born This Way video, wrote on Twitter: “The suicide of friend Rick Genest, Zombie Boy is beyond devastating. We have to work harder to change the culture, bring mental health to the forefront and erase the stigma that we can’t talk about it. If you are suffering, call a friend or family today. We must save each other.”
Gaga’s stylist, Nicola Formichetti, who used Genest as a model when he was creative director of Thierry Mugler, said he was “absolutely heartbroken”.
A Facebook account appearing to belong to Genest hinted at depression in a recent post. The May post shows a photo of Genest sitting in a hospital bed, wearing the Kill Me shirt that he often wore for interviews and photos with a tongue depressor hanging from his mouth.
The post echoed a 2012 interview with the UK’s Evening Standard, in which they noted that Genest was reticent to delve into details of his private life. After Genest mentioned – seemingly apropos of nothing – “Depression is a strong thing…” he refused to elaborate when pressed by the reporter.
In a TedX talk last year, titled Normal is an Illusion, Genest described growing up in a small town in Quebec that was riddled with political and racial issues. “French versus English, Mohawks versus the White, very few Blacks and even less other nationalities in between,” he told an audience in Austria.
His parents’ strict religious beliefs kept him sidelined from most school celebrations, forbidden from taking part in what they saw as pagan rituals; carving pumpkins at Halloween, crafting Christmas tree decorations and painting Easter Eggs.
Amid the jocks and preps of high school, he found his place among what he described as the “least favourite of all subcultures”: the goths. “Every day was a battle of final demise, suffering in agony in a world of the ignorant and chipper, bullied by most and befriended by few,” he said.
As a teenager, he was diagnosed with a brain tumour. Doctors warned him that the surgery to remove the tumour would leave his face disfigured for life.
After a six-month wait for the surgery, doctors presented him with another option; a new laser technology that would leave his face intact but which was a gamble, as it had only been carried out successfully on one other person in North America.
Shortly after his 15th birthday, he told the audience in Austria, “I stepped out of the hospital as the second person in North America to survive this new state-of-the-art procedure.”
Years later, he had a falling out with his parents and left home for Montreal, spending the next five or six years sleeping rough, earning money by washing windshields and dodging cops while soaking up the city’s punk scene.
It was around that time that his tattoos began to multiply. “I gradually started resembling a human doodle board, riddled with tattoos,” he said during his TedX talk.
Eventually he met tattoo artist Frank Lewis. The pair devised a theme of a rotting corpse to blend his many tattoos into a tattoo that would cover his whole body, with blackened eye sockets, flesh withering off bones and cockroaches crawling up his neck.
As he turned 21, he got his most eye-catching tattoo; a skull tattooed on his face. At 22, he shaved off his two-foot high mohawk to tattoo an image of his brains on his scalp.
His foray into international fame came soon after, when the UK’s Bizarre Magazine saw photos of him on MySpace and travelled to Montreal to meet him.
From there, photos of him began to spread and his career snowballed. As well as his work with Gaga and Formichetti, he also modelled for Jay-Z’s fashion label Rocawear and appeared in the Keanu Reeves samurai film 47 Ronin. Acclaimed British artist Marc Quinn created a sculpture of Genest in 2011.
Genest explained his phantasmagoric appearance to Wonderland magazine in 2012: “The zombie concept is also often used as a metaphor for runaway consumerism. Rebelling from this notion is the very meaning of punk. The origins of the zombie creature came about from stories of people being buried alive in times of plagues and such crises; that would come out the other side transformed.”
He added: “Zombies, to many, represent a pervasive xenophobia. As in my life, I was often out-casted, hated or misunderstood.”
• In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international suicide helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org.
