Vegan influencer Zhanna Samsonova aka Zhanna D’Art ‘could barely walk’ and hadn’t drunk water for six years before dying of ‘starvation
A vegan influencer who lived on an ‘extreme’ diet of raw fruit and vegetables could ‘barely walk’ and hadn’t drunk water for more than six years before she reportedly died from starvation and exhaustion, her friends have revealed.
Zhanna Samsonova, originally from Russia and known as Zhanna D’Art on social media, had been on the raw plant-based diet for ten years that consisted of fruits, sunflower seed sprouts, fruit smoothies and juices.
Ms Samsonova, who friends say was suffering from anorexia, became so weak in the final weeks of her life as a result of her extreme diet that she was practically bed-bound and it would take her ‘several minutes’ to walk up one step on a staircase.
The 39-year-old’s friends have revealed they were ‘horrified’ at her emaciated appearance and begged her to get help from doctors – but she refused and carried on with her diet of raw plant-based foods.
Ms Samsonova, who hadn’t drunk water for more than six years and instead replaced it with fruit and vegetable juices, died on July 21 while in intensive care at a hospital in Malaysia.
The influencer, who had over 10,000 Instagram followers and had been travelling across Asia for the past 17 years, reportedly died from a cholera-like infection that was exacerbated by her extreme restrictive eating, her mother told Russian newspaper Vechernyaya Kazan.
Ms Samsonova’s official cause of death has not yet been determined as her family try to get her body back to Russia amid bureaucratic delays.
There were periods when Ms Samsonova would practice ‘dry fasting’ – where she would refuse to eat or drink anything for days.
In the final months of her life, Ms Samsonova’s friends had desperately urged her to get help and eat more substantive foods – but they said it was ‘impossible’ to get her to speak to doctors or eat anything other than raw fruit and vegetables.
Olga Chernyaeva , one of the influencer’s friends, told the Russian newspaper Novye Izvestia: ‘I watched her journey to death for seven years. About five months ago, I met Zhanna in Sri Lanka and she had a haggard look.
‘Her legs were swollen… It was amazing that she was still moving – I think she did it through pain.’
Ms Chernyaeva added: ‘I tried to talk to her, to convince her to seek help from doctors, to take tests. I showed her her body in the mirror and in photographs of past years. But Zhanna’s character was not simple, it was impossible to convince her on certain issues.’
Her devastated friend said that she watched helplessly as Ms Samsonova became ‘only bones’ and was left practically bed-bound.
Ms Chernyaeva said: ‘She was in bed for almost a month. If she got up, it was very difficult for her to walk – it took several minutes to overcome one step of the stair