Billionaire Anna Shay, who starred in Netflix’s hit reality series Bling Empire, has died after suffering from a stroke. She was 62.
“It saddens our hearts to announce that Anna Shay, a loving mother, grandmother, charismatic star and our brightest ray of sunshine, has passed away at the early age of 62 from a stroke,” said her family in a statement, which was reported by United States media on Monday. It was not clear when she died.
“Anna taught us many life lessons on how not to take life too seriously and to enjoy the finer things. Her impact on our lives will be forever missed, but never forgotten.”
The Los Angeles heiress is survived by her son, Mr Kenny Kemp, who is in his 20s and briefly appeared in the series.
Shay was part of the Bling Empire cast when the series premiered in 2021 and appeared in all three seasons. The last season aired in October 2022, and the series was cancelled recently.
It featured a group of wealthy Asian Americans in Los Angeles and their lifestyles, including Singaporean reality television star Kane Lim, model Kevin Kreider, fashionista Christine Chiu, DJ star Kim Lee and entrepreneur Kelly Mi Li.
Shay was born in Japan to American businessman Edward Shay and socialite Ai Oizumi Shay, who was half-Japanese and half-Russian.
Anna Shay reportedly spent the first eight years of her life in Tokyo with her family before they moved to Los Angeles.
She is said to have amassed a fortune after she and her brother sold their father’s company, Pacific Architects and Engineers, in 2006 after his death for US$1.2 billion (S$1.6 billion).
Before Bling Empire premiered, the socialite led a mostly private life. She was married and divorced four times, and never revealed the identities of her husbands, according to French magazine Marie Claire.
In 2021, she told American magazine People that she was not expecting Bling Empire to garner so much attention.
“Did I expect the show to be successful? No. I wasn’t even expecting to be in front of the camera. I’m very shy and I went along with whatever situation was happening,” she said. “I was just being me.”
Her Bling Empire co-stars expressed their condolences.
In a lengthy post on Instagram, Lim said: “You had a nonchalance about you that was mesmerising and captivated audiences around the world. I was lucky to get to know the real you, and not many knew about our friendship off-camera... Though the show made things or even portrayed us a little crazy at times, you knew who I really was as a person and had my back in the end.”
Kreider wrote on Instagram: “You never know when your last goodbye will be. So unexpected, and (I wish) when I saw you last for lunch, I would have taken a moment to smell the roses and had one last adventure with you.”
