Rick Genest, a mannequin recognized for his head-to-toe tattoos who appeared within the music video for the 2011 Girl Gaga music “Born This Method,” has died. He was 32.
Dulcedo Administration, his company, confirmed his loss of life on its Fb web page on Thursday however didn’t say the place he died, though Mr. Genest lived in Montreal. On her Twitter account, Girl Gaga stated the reason for loss of life was suicide, and that it was “past devastating.”
“We have now to work more durable to vary the tradition, carry Psychological Well being to the forefront and erase the stigma that we will’t discuss it,” she added.
Mr. Genest, who was higher often called Zombie Boy or Rico, was born on Aug. 7, 1985, in a small city in Quebec. He stated that he grew up fascinated with freak exhibits and tattoos.
“Even from age 5 I used to spend any pennies I had on bubble gum that got here with switch tattoos and stick them up my arms,” he wrote within the Irish Mirror in 2016. “I’ve all the time needed to look totally different.”
In class, he stated college students discovered themselves neatly becoming into classes.
“Are you a jock, a nerd, a prep, a rapper, a metalhead?” he stated in 2016 at a TEDx discuss in Austria.
He stated he turned a goth, “the least favourite of the subcultures,” and that he was “bullied by most and befriended by few.”
When he was a youngster he was instructed he had a mind tumor and that he would want surgical procedure that would go away him disfigured for all times.
“I assume this spiralled me into turning into obsessive about the morbid and macabre,” he wrote within the Irish Mirror.
However after months of examinations and blood work, he was approached with another choice that concerned laser expertise. He stated that in 2000, he turned the second particular person in North America to outlive the process.
“It was all coming collectively,” he stated.
By this level he had run away from residence after an argument along with his mom. He cleaned windshields for cash and squatted in buildings.
Folks started stopping him on the street to ask if he would pose for pictures. In 2008, Weird journal requested if he would do a photograph shoot.
“After they printed the photographs, they used the identify ‘Zombie Boy’ and that was that,” he stated.
He then obtained requests to mannequin in trend exhibits, carry out in freak exhibits and seem at tattoo conventions.
In 2011, the artist Girl Gaga approached him to take part in her music video for the music “Born This Method,” by which she wore make-up that resembled his tattoos.
That very same 12 months, he earned the Guinness World File for “most bugs tattooed on the physique,” at 176. He has additionally labored as a consultant for L’Oréal’s Dermablend, a concealer that covers tattoos. He appeared in a number of motion pictures, together with “47 Ronin” (2013) with Keanu Reeves and he performed in a band with Rob Zombie guitarist Mike Riggs.
Reflecting on his profession, Mr. Genest wrote within the Irish Mirror that he was pleased with reaching his boyhood dream of turning into “a freak.”
“And sure,” he wrote, “Please do stare, I prefer it.”
The Related Press contributed reporting.
