Amanda “Mandy” Blank, a famous fitness trainer who works with top notch stars and athletes across various fields, was found dead this week in her Los Angeles home.
She was 42 years old.
.
According to The New York Daily News, Blank was found unresponsive in the bathroom of her residence on Monday.
A source tells this newspaper that foul play is not suspected at this time and that an autopsy and toxicology screening were scheduled to determine cause of death.
TMZ, meanwhile, reports that a housekeeper for the former International Federation of Bodybuilding & Fitness world champion called 911 upon discovering Blank’s body.
No drugs and no alcohol were found at the scene.
Blank became the youngest competitor to ever win the IFBB World Championships in 1999.
She also placed fifth in the 1998 World Arnold Classic and was later honored by Bodybuilding and Fitness magazine as having the “Greatest Glutes of All Time,” according to her website.
“I’m absolutely shocked, for sure,” fellow fitness personality Annette Milbers told the Daily News about Blank’s passing, adding:
“We messaged last week. She always made other people feel great, and she had reached out to me because I competed. She said how proud she was.”
Milbers added she knew Blank for more than 15 years and often roomed with her at conventions and magazine signings.
They were very close.
“She was such a passionate, kind person. Her purpose was always to express love through body movement,” Milbers said.
“She was a very unpretentious person, which can be rare in our industry. She was all about connecting with people on whatever level they were on.”
Blank, who often appeared in fitness magazine and graced the covers of Oxygen and MuscleMag, was a well known and respected presence around Hollywood.
She worked with such stars as Alex Rodriguez, Mickey Rourke, Rohan Marley, Natasha Leone, Marcus Allen, Michelle Monaghan and Jordana Brewster.
In addition to her celebrity clientele, Blank trained people across Los Angeles and California, coaching them with her online and nutritional programs, trademarked as the Blank Body program.
“Without my health and fitness, I have nothing,” she once wrote on her Facebook page.
May Mandy Blank rest in peace.
