Rich Piana, a professional bodybuilder, is “alive and fighting for his life,” according to his fitness model girlfriend, Chanel Jansen. Piana was found unresponsive in his Florida home after falling and hitting his head, TMZ reported. Chanel attempted to give the 46-year-old bodybuilder CPR. When medical personnel arrived, they rushed Piana to the hospital. It was here that he was placed in a medically induced coma.
Following the incident, rumors swirled that Piana died from an overdose. However, Jansen quickly took to Instagram to clear up the rumors. Chanel posted a photo of herself posing with Piana.
“I will not be posting any updates after this until further notice. I just want to be clear [Piana] is STILL ALIVE,” she wrote. “All myself and his family are asking for is POSITIVE thoughts, prayers, and love. PLEASE I’m BEGGING you all to have some respect and realize how EXTREMELY difficult this is for us. Thank you to all of you staying positive and sending well wishes, prayers, and love. We appreciate it more than you will ever know.”
Piana previously came forward and admitted to the public that he had been spending thousands of dollars a month on anabolic steroids, according to the Daily Mail. The drugs, according to Piana, has assisted him in enhancing his ardent bodybuilding career and fitness lifestyle.
While there was no official report that Piana has overdosed, several publications have reported this as being the cause of his collapse, according to International Business Times. None have been officially verified.
Piana is open about his steroid use and once said it was necessary to compete in bodybuilding. In a 2016 YouTube video, Rich discussed steroid use in the professional bodybuilding industry.
“If you have the choice to stay natural or do steroids, stay natural. There’s no reason to do steroids, you’re only hurting your body, you’re hurting yourself… If you want to become a professional bodybuilder, guess what – you’re probably going to have to f***in’ do ’em. You’re not going to have a choice.”
Piana admitted that he began feeling pressure to intensify his routine after he started getting kicked offstage during shows.
“I was getting to the point where I was getting blown off stage if I wasn’t going to do steroids, so I took that step.”
Rich Piana has repeatedly referred to his slogan of “Whatever It Takes” when discussing the risky lengths he would go to in an effort to succeed in the bodybuilding industry.
“But you know what? I’m happy with everything I chose and happy with the way that everything went in my life and I would not have done anything different… I’m completely happy with the choice that I made to start taking steroids at an early age of 18.”
After the announcement of his past steroid cycle, Piana would vanish periodically from the blogging scene. The disappearance led many to wonder if he may have gotten into some sort of legal trouble or was possibly hospitalized. Piana would later return without explanation.
Just last year, Piana and his wife, Sara Heimis, announced their decision to separate after nearly one year of marriage. Piana released a video accusing Heimis of marrying him so she may obtain a green card. In the controversial video, he also alleged she stole money from him.
Piana, a former Mr. California, is popular on YouTube, with many videos on his channel garnering millions of views. Rich also has a large fan base on Instagram with 1.2 million followers.
[Featured Image by Richard Stonehouse/Getty Images]