Over the weekend, Stevie Ryan, a YouTube star known for her celebrity impersonations, died at the age of 33. Upon hearing the sad news, her former boyfriend, actor Drake Bell, mourned her loss with two heart-wrenching posts on Twitter.
In the first, Bell, who dated Ryan from 2005 to 2006, according to E!, shared an old photo of the two posing on the red carpet at the 2006 MTV Movie Awards.
“No no no!!!! I can NOT BELIEVE THIS IS HAPPENING!!!! Please wake me from this nightmare @StevieRyan I loved you and will forever miss you!” he wrote.
In a second post, in which he shared a link with more details about Ryan’s death, Bell wrote, “This is too much. My heart is crushed. @StevieRyan I love you and miss you.”
Ryan was reportedly found unresponsive at her home on Saturday and pronounced dead at the scene. Her death, which came shortly after the death of her grandfather, was ruled a suicide by the Los Angeles Coroner’s Office.
The YouTube star gained popularity in the early 2000s thanks to her impressions of stars like Kim Kardashian, Amy Winehouse and Justin Bieber, which she posted on her channel “Little Loca.”
Ryan would go on to gain mainstream success. She starred on her own VH1 pop culture sketch series, “Stevie TV,” from 2012 to 2013, and served as co-host of Brody Jenner’s E! series “Sex with Brody.”
Most recently, she co-hosted a podcast called “Mentally Ch(ill),” which was described as “a podcast about depression.” Ryan opened up about her grandfather’s death and its effect on her in the latest episode, saying she was “worried this is going to send me into a deeper depression.”
Following news of her death, fellow members of the online community shared heartfelt messages to honor Ryan.
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