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Manager Says Chyna Died from Accidental Prescription Drug Overdose

By Cia Young
Published on: 12:16 PST, Apr 27, 2016

Speculation has abounded after the untimely death of former wrestling superstar Joan Laurer, better known to fans as Chyna; however, her manager has told several news media outlets what he believes happened to his client.

According to ABC 7 Los Angeles, Anthony Anzaldo told the news media outlet that his client died from an accidental overdose of prescription medication. Anzaldo alleges that Chyna “misused her legally prescribed Ambien and [a] generic form of Valium over the course of two to three weeks.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6S97xIQSlP0

Anzaldo further told ABC that there were no drugs or alcohol found in the former wrestler’s apartment.

Chyna’s manager said to the Los Angeles Times she did not commit suicide and simply did not properly use the medication she was legally prescribed. Anzaldo told the Times, “You are not going to find 60 pills in her stomach.”

The Times further notes that the Los Angeles County coroner’s office has “deferred a ruling in the cause” of Chyna’s death, indicating it could take several months before toxicology tests confirm if the star’s death was actually an overdose.

The Huffington Post reports that Ed Winter, the assistant chief of the coroner’s office, said, “We don’t know what she might have taken or how much.” He added that authorities are investigating whether the drugs she had were “legally obtained.”

According to the Times, local police initially stated Chyna’s death was either due to natural causes or a possible drug overdose.

E! News also reports that Anzaldo said Chyna, 46, probably “over-medicated” herself in the weeks prior to her death.

Anzaldo told E!, “Once I noticed she was over medicating I knew it was out of my hands…,” indicating he was in talks with a reality show to intervene in the matter.

According to E!, Anzaldo said he was shooting a documentary with Chyna around the time she died and had contacted the A&E Network about their series Intervention, which aids friends and families to plan and execute an intervention for a loved one who is drug or alcohol addicted.

Anzaldo stated, “There was no other way than to do an intervention,” according to E!.

Regarding the television show, Anzaldo added the following.

“We were in the process. They [Intervention] were just going to be an extension of the documentary… I reached out [to] the Intervention [team] because they offered the opportunity to put a professional intervention together in days instead of weeks… They offered the opportunity for us to get 3 months in a first class facility. Prove a professional interventionist. They provided the tools in the tools in the quickest amount f time… we were going to document an intervention anyway for our own documentary.”

Anzaldo claims that producers of the show reached out to Chyna on Monday after she had already passed away. He further stated, according to E!, that Chyna did not know she would be part of the Intervention show and only thought additional people were being asked to help with the documentary.

E! notes that it reached out to A&E for comment regarding Anzaldo’s statements, but at press, had not received a response back from producers.

According to ABC, Anzaldo found Chyna’s body in her Redondo Beach, California, apartment on April 20.

On Tuesday, Anzaldo told NBC 4 Southern California that Chyna’s brain will be donated for research to be examined by famed Dr. Bennet Omalu regarding chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a brain injury from periodic blows or trauma to the head. Omalu was portrayed by actor Will Smith in the 2015 film, Concussion, according to NBC.

ABC reports the athlete joined the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1997 and remained a part of the organization until 2001. She admittedly struggled with drugs and alcohol over the years and in 2007 appeared on the VH1 reality show, The Surreal Life. In 2008, she was seen in “treatment” on that same network’s series, Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew.

According to ABC, Chyna later appeared in porn films and at one point posed for Playboy magazine. She also had a New York Times‘ best-selling book, called If They Only Knew. The book was an autobiography.

[Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images]

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