<![CDATA[‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ star Chi Chi DeVayne dead at 34]]> https://usagag.com/2020/08/20/rupauls-drag-race-star-chi-chi-devayne-dead-at-34/ Thu, 20 Aug 2020 22:04:45 +0000 hourly 1 https://usagag.com ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ star Chi Chi DeVayne dead at 34 “RuPaul’s Drag Race” star Zavion Davenport, better known by her stage name Chi Chi DeVayne, has died at 34.

Chi Chi, who appeared on the eighth season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” as well as the show’s “All Stars” spinoff, lost her battle with pneumonia after entering the hospital last week, EW confirmed. In one of her final Instagram stories, she asked fans to pray for her.

“Keep me in your prayers. I’ll be back soon,” DeVayne said in a video shared on Saturday, which showed her in a hospital bed. She was hospitalized last month and shared on Instagram that she “may be going through kidney failure.”

In 2018, she revealed that she was diagnosed with scleroderma, a condition that attacks internal organs.

Franchise creator RuPaul said he was “heartbroken” to learn of her death.

“I am so grateful that we got to experience her kind and beautiful soul. She will be dearly missed, but never forgotten. May her generous and loving spirit shine down on us all,” he said in a statement on the show’s Twitter account. “On behalf of VH1, World of Wonder and the cast and crew of RuPaul’s Drag Race, I extend my deepest sympathy – from our family to hers.”

New York-based “Drag Race” contestant Monét X Change was among the series alumni who expressed condolences at Chi Chi’s passing. “OMG just heard. Rest easy the sweetest most sensitive kind and wholesome angel,” she wrote on Twitter Thursday afternoon.

Trixie Mattel, who competed alongside Chi Chi in Season 3 of “All Stars,” remembered her as “an iconic queen literally everyone in our industry will always love.”

And Ongina, who appeared last season on “All Stars,” called her “seriously one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.”

World of Wonder, which produces the series, also expressed condolences for the Louisiana native.

“We’re heartbroken to learn that Chi Chi DeVayne has passed away today,” the company wrote on Twitter. “Her drag spread a message of love and kindness that truly touched each person she met. Rest in power, Chi Chi.”

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