'Drag Race's Chi Chi DeVayne Has Reportedly Died

After weeks in the hospital,RuPaul's Drag Race alum Chi Chi DeVayne has died. Fellow alum Trinity K. Bonet announced the news on Instagram today.

DeVayne, who competed on season 8 of the show, had been in the hospital being treated for pneumonia. In a recent Instagram Story post, while hooked up to a breathing tube she had asked fans for prayer. In July, prior to her stay for pneumonia, the 34-year-old had been hospitalized for possible kidney failure. DeVayne was diagnosed with scleroderma, a condition that attacks various internal organs in 2018. Fans and other alum of the show had been raising money and circulating the performer's CashApp and Venmo accounts to help finance her care after July's hospital stay. Priyanka, a contestant on the debut season of Canada's Drag Race just announced raising $900 for that effort and Shea Coulee had been selling a print of one of her All Stars season 5 looks to benefit the performer as well.

DeVayne made an impression on Drag Race audiences primarily as a lip-sync assassin, notably besting Thorgy Thor to Jennifer Holiday's "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going." The performance has gone down as one of the best in Drag Race herstory and DeVayne made it to the Top 4 of that season -- she revealed herself as not only a dancer but a witty comedian as well. She later returned for RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars season 3. Though he has personally left social media, RuPaul released a statement on the news through the RuPaul's Drag Race Twitter account.

"I am heartbroken to learn of the passing of Chi Chi DeVayne," he wrote. "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."

"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," he continued.

In addition to being a star performer, DeVayne was known as a gentle and loving soul to all that met her. Watch DeVayne's season of Drag Race on CBS All Access now.

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