Lin Ban, a famous Singaporean jewelry designer who starred in the Netflix reality show Bling Empire, has died a month after undergoing brain surgery following a skiing accident.
Her son Sebastian confirmed her death in an Instagram post on Wednesday, where he paid tribute to his 51-year-old mother as his “best friend and best mother”.
The incident happened in Aspen in the US on Christmas Eve.
Ban's family has not released the immediate cause of her death.
In a post on social media on New Year's Eve, Ban revealed that while she was skiing at the top of a mountain, she fell and “bruised her face”.
Because she was wearing a helmet, “it didn't look so bad then and I was able to ski to the bottom,” she said, adding that a ski patrol officer later checked for a concussion and released her.
But she still had “a bit of a headache” and decided to go to hospital on the advice of a paramedic. Then she discovered she had a brain hemorrhage and went in for an emergency craniotomy.
“In the blink of an eye… life can change,” she wrote in the post, which was accompanied by a photo of herself in bed with a partially shaved head. “It's a long road to recovery, but I'm a survivor.”
Born in Singapore, Ban has worked in New York, London and Paris.
Her designs have been worn by pop stars Madonna, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Cardi B and Billie Eilish, according to her website.
At Bling Empire New York in 2023. she was part of a cast of Asian American socialites who “flaunt their wealth — and fashion — as they bring the drama to New York,” according to Netflix.
In his tribute, Sebastian Ban said he wanted the world to know who his mother was as a person.
“She always had a smile on her face even when times were tough during her recovery process,” he said.
“She's a fighter through and through and the strongest woman I know,” he said.