Lady Gaga has apologized to the family of Rick Genest, AKA Zombie Boy, who died last week. The body of the model, known for his full body tattoos, was found near his home in Montreal on Wednesday 1 August. He was 32. After previously sharing a message about the passing of the model and referred to his cause of death as suicide, Gaga has since deleted that message and today wrote: ‘Out of respect for Rick’s family, Rick & his legacy I apologize if I spoke too soon as there was no witnesses or evidence to support any conclusion for the cause of his death.
‘I in no way meant to draw an unjust conclusion My deepest condolences to his entire family and friends.(sic)’ His family has insisted he didn’t die by suicide, adding there are too many ‘inconsistencies’ around his death. His manager, Karim Leduc, said: ‘For us, the family and close entourage, we feel there’s too many inconsistencies around his death to rule it as a suicide, and for people to jump to conclusions that rapidly was disappointing.
‘The balcony from which he fell on the third floor was a very dangerous balcony. Just three weeks ago, I visited that balcony with him and was on it with him smoking a cigarette, as well. ‘It’s a balcony that has very small rails/guards — an emergency/fire escape balcony – and he was leaning his back towards it like sitting on the ledge of the rail, and he fell from his backside onto the floor.’ At his time of death he was with his girlfriend, telling her he was going outside to have a cigarette. Karim added: ‘After he was gone an unusually long time, she went to check up on him and she saw him on the ground at the bottom. She’s the one that ran up to him. She’s in a complete state of shock at the hospital now.’ Gaga was seemingly close to Rick after he starred in her 2011 video for Born This Way. After news broke of his death, she wrote on social media: ‘The suicide of friend Rick Genest, Zombie Boy is beyond devastating.