Stevie Ryan – the actress and comedian who was best known in gossip circles for her lengthy feud with Teen Mom 2 star Jenelle Evans – has passed away at the age of 33.
Police are describing Ryan’s death as an apparent suicide by hanging.
The news comes just one week after Ryan publicly shared her grief over the death of her grandfather.
“I’m just worried that this is going to send me into a deeper depression,” Ryan stated on a recent episode of her podcast.
After moving to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career at the age of 19, Ryan unexpectedly found success through her YouTube channel and her signature character, Little Loca.
She eventually started poking fun at celebrities, going viral with a number of spot-on imperessions.
“I remember waking up and one Little Loca video had like 900 hits and I was like ‘Oh, my gosh. There’s people watching this?’” Ryan told The Hollywood Reporter in 2012.
“And it just kept going and then I did this Paris Hilton thing and then it literally was just growing and growing. And I just became so obsessed with all of it.”
Ryan landed a VH1 sketch series entitled Stevie TV in 2012 but despite critical acclaim, the show lasted only one season.
She went on to host Brody Jenner’s E! series, Sex With Brody.
But it was her riffs on the Teen Mom phenomenon that gained Ryan the most attention on social media.
Ryan mocked Farrah Abraham, Jenelle Evans, and others in a fashion that made her popular with fans of the franchise – and roundly despised by the show’s stars.
At one point, Ryan publicly shared a series of flirtatious texts that she had received from Evans’ then-boyfriend Nathan Griffith.
Today, Evans spoke out on social media after receiving word of Ryan’s death:
“I know we pretty much hated each other but I’m sorry you had to go so soon pretty girl,” Jenelle tweeted.
Other Teen Mom stars have yet to publicly address Ryan’s death.
Thousands of tributes from fans of the gifted comic have already poured in on Twitter, many of them encouraging anyone who’s suffering from thoughts of suicide to seek immediate help.
