There’s no debate over what caused the tragic death of Stevie Ryan.
As previously reported, the talk show host and former YouTube sensation killed herself last Friday at the age of 33.
The Los Angeles Coroner’s office’s confirmed on July 2 that the viral video star and aspiring actress hanged herself in her home the day before, with authorities pronouncing Rysan dead at the scene.
It’s a terribly sad and surprising development – but it also isn’t all that shocking.
We say this because Ryan had been very open about her struggles with depression for years.
She created and co-hosted a podcast about mental illness titled “Mentally Ch(ill)” and she Tweeted about the passing of her beloved grandfather just 24 hours or so before taking her own life.
On the final installment of Mentally Ch(ill), she said she was concerned that this death would send her into a dark spiral.
In the wake of this awful news, ex-boyfriend Drake Bell has Tweeted his heartbreak, while many fans have been left to wonder:
What was the state of Ryan’s mind when she died? Was it altered by drugs of some kind?
We may not have the answer for a very long time.
“Stevie Ryan’s cause of death is hanging from a ligature around her neck,” a spokesperson from the Los Angeles Coroner’s Office told Radar Online, adding in response to this inquiry:
“They ordered a toxicology report. It could take six to nine months.”
Over the course of her career – which kicked off over a decade ago after she garnered a sizable online following due to her YouTube impressions of such stars as Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga – engaged in many feuds with stars of the Teen Mom franchise.
In 2014, she got into a Twitter feud with Jenelle Evans after the MTV star complained that her mother wouldn’t let her see son Jace on the Fourth of July.
“That’s what happens when you don’t raise your child, DUH,” Ryan wrote, to which Jenelle shot back:
“Who r u again? Yeah washed-up wanna be reality star.”
At another point, just a few weeks ago, Ryan joked that she wanted to hookup with Amber Portwood‘s fiance, Matt Baier.
This quip prompted Farrah Abraham‘s boyfriend, Simon Saran, to jump into the fray, Tweeting at Ryan:
“Are you sure he’s not your daddy too? You can’t stop talking about him.”
Ryan didn’t back down, however, actually calling out Abraham’s daughter in her reply:
“You’re the one playing daddy to a baby demon child so I wouldn’t go there.”
In other words: things often got ugly between Ryan and Teen Mom cast members.
Yet that didn’t stop many of them from Tweeting their condolences upon learning of Ryan’s suicide. To wit:
As for Evans?
“I know we pretty much hated each other, but I’m sorry you had to go so soon pretty girl,” she Tweeted.
Some critics think this response was a little callous and casual, considering the extreme and final nature of suicide, but it probably was the best Jenelle could muster.
We’re gonna go ahead and give her the benefit of the doubt here and say Evans was being as sincere as she’s capable of being.
In closing: whether or not Ryan was on drugs at the time of her death isn’t really the point here, of course.
She had been suffering mentally for a very long time and we hope she’s found the peace for which she had longed during this difficult period.
If you or anyone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).