Lady Gaga has apologised for previously declaring Zombie Boy’s death a suicide.
The 32-year-old pop star has sent her "deepest condolences" to the family and friends of the heavily tattooed model – whose real name was Rick Genest – and said sorry for speaking "too soon" about her pal’s passing after his loved ones insisted he didn’t deliberately take his own life when he fell from a balcony at his home in Montreal on Wednesday (01.08.18).
She tweeted: "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)"
Gaga met Rick when he starred in the 2011 video for her ‘Born This Way’ single and she went on to share a photo of the "sacred art" they had made together.
She captioned the image: "The art we made was sacred to me and I was emotional, he was an incredible artist and his art and heart will live on. Rest In Peace You beautiful soul.(sic)"
Her apology came after the 32-year-old model’s family insisted there were too many "inconsistencies" for his death to be ruled a suicide and slammed the "disappointing" conclusions people had drawn about his passing.
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."
Rick was with his girlfriend at his apartment before the fall last week and told 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."
After news of Rick’s death broke, Gaga penned a touching tribute to him and claimed he had died by suicide.
She wrote: "The suicide of friend Rick Genest, Zombie Boy is beyond devastating. We have to work harder to change the culture, bring Mental Health to the forefront and erase the stigma that we can’t talk about it.(sic)"
Lady Gaga apologises over Zombie Boy death comments
