Were the signs there? Pete Burns underwent 300 plastic surgeries in the run-up to his death
PETE Burns has passed away aged 57 – but were the signs that the star might meet an early end already there?
In a statement on Twitter, his manager wrote: “It is with the greatest sadness that we have to break the tragic news that our beloved Pete Burns died suddenly yesterday of a massive cardiac arrest.”
The Dead or Alive singer had previously confessed in an interview with OK Magazine to having battled with depression and growing up with an alcoholic parent.
It is alleged that Pete’s mum had problems with alcohol and prescription drug addiction when he was a teen.
It had been claimed that she was a survivor of the holocaust who suffered with bouts of depression - turning to alcohol when Pete was 14 years old.
While Pete said that his mum’s alcoholism turned him off from alcohol, he confessed to making suicide attempts in his teens - which he put down to being his way of trying to stop his mother from drinking.
In an OK magazine interview Pete said: “I couldn’t take it. I’d come home and find her with her wrists slashed and blood splattered all over the place.
“Then in 1997 a severe depression hit me, but I didn’t respond well to anti-depressants.
“It still occasionally hits me, but I’m in the hands of a fantastic psychiatrist and I’m on medication that works.”
Back in 2015, former CBB contestant Pete was evicted from his London flat after failing to pay more than £30,000 in rent and being declared bankrupt.
The You Spin Me Around hit-maker had remained relatively out of the public eye since appearing on Celebrity Big Brother in 2006.
However, in 2009 he won £450,000 in an out of court settlement following a botched lip surgery – which apparently left him feeling ‘suicidal’ because of the damage it caused to his face and career.
Earlier this year, admitted that he had more than 300 procedures to fix previous botched surgery on his face, which left him depressed as well as fighting for his life.
The large amount of medication he ended up taking for his botched surgery had a massive impact on his health.
He said: “I developed blood clots and pulmonary embolisms in my legs, heart and lungs.
“I got these black marks on my skin and I thought they were bruises. The next thing my driver came in and I was unconscious, not breathing.”
Pete was left fighting for his life in hospital and was put on medication to thin his blood - miraculously, he came through.
In February, Pete had sparked concerns over his appearance after performing on Celebrity Big Brother's Bit On The Side – prompting viewers to ask “what has he done to his face?”
However, Pete dealt with the comments in his well-known outspoken way, going on to tweet: “Just in case you missed it. Thanks for all the nice tweets and or the s**tty ones... Who gives a f**k !!”
And then in May of this year, the singer was spotted looking almost unrecognisable while out on a walk in London.
He was papped while smoking and wearing a tight pink vest and black shorts - as well as a much fuller figure.
The singer was last on our screens when he appeared on Celebrity Botched Up Bodies last month.
Pete, who said he has “lost count” of the number of times he has gone under the knife, shared his surgery story on the Channel 5 show.
He said: “The number of surgeries I’ve has is probably 300. I hope when I’m 80 and I get to heaven God doesn’t recognise me.”
But a number of fans of the star tweeted their hope that he would now stop having plastic surgery after everything he has been through.
One wrote: “Pete please stop now. #celebritybotchedupbodies” while another added: “Love #peteburns but what has he done to himself #botchedupbodies”.
Could a combination of his past demons, numerous surgeries and the prescription drugs he was given have played a huge role in his sudden death?