MUM'S AGONY
I begged my daughter Zhanna Samsonova to come home before she starved to death from Vegan diet – I’m heartbroken
THE mother of vegan influencer Zhanna Samsonova has devastatingly told of how she begged her to come home the day before she died.
The 39-year-old is feared to died from starvation and exhaustion after attempting to live off an extreme fruit-only diet in Southeast Asia.
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The Russian national - known as Zhanna D'Art to her social media followers - died on July 21 in a Malaysian hospital.
She previously told her followers that she had spent the last four years of her life eating and drinking "only fruits, sunflower seed sprouts, fruit smoothies and juices."
Her mother, Vera Samsonova, said she had caught a "cholera-like infection" - exacerbated by her diet - just hours before she was due to fly home from her travels.
Vera, 63, has revealed her heartbreaking last phone conversation with her daughter where she begged her to return to Moscow.
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"Zhanna, you need to go to Moscow," the 63-year-old had pleaded.
"I understood that Zhanna was about to die, but still I could not help her in any way. My daughter's life has turned into a nightmare," she told Russian newspaper Novye Izvestiya.
In Samsonova's last moments, Vera explained that seemed to have finally understood the errors of her ways and replied: "Yes, I was so mistaken."
The mother said that she had "fought for years" to save her troubled daughter but was unable to help her in her last moments as she could not fly abroad.
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Debts had prevented her leaving Russia, but she had been sending her hospitalized daughter all of her earnings.
"She chose this path. I fought for many years [but] she did not listen to her mother," she added.
In the months leading up to her death, the food blogger's friends feared that her diet was becoming increasingly restrictive and her anorexia was getting worse.
One friend, Olga Chernyaeva, told Russian media how Samsonova could barely walk.
"I watched her journey to death for seven years. About five months ago, I met Zhanna in Sri Lanka and she had a haggard look.
"Her legs were swollen... It was amazing that she was still moving - I think she did it through pain."
Chernyaeva added that she was forced to helplessly watch as Samsonova - who refused to get treatment - turned to "only bones" and was left bed-bound.
"She was in bed for almost a month. If she got up, it was very difficult for her to walk - it took several minutes to overcome one step of the stairs."
The raw food influencer also had touted online that her body does not "require" water.
"I have not drunk water for the last 6 years. This is a common occurrence in those who are on a fruit diet," she wrote on Instagram from last year.
"This is not something that I limit or restrain myself, it's just that my body does not require it," she added.
Another friend reported how seeing Samsonova several months ago had left her "horrified".
"Her hands were like those of my 12-year-old sister, thin," they told Russian news outlet 116.ru.
"A few months ago, in Sri Lanka, she already looked exhausted.
"They sent her home to seek treatment. However, she ran away again. When I saw her in Phuket, I was horrified.
"I lived one floor above her and every day I feared finding her lifeless body in the morning. I convinced her to seek treatment, but she didn't make it."
Samsonova regularly promoted her fruit-only diet online, telling her 16,000 followers that: "I see my body and mind transform every day.
"I love my new me, and never move on to the habits that I used to use."
Even as she grew thinner and weaker, she believed that her diet made her look younger and healthier than her friends.
She said: "I feel very sad when I see most of my peers. Because of junk food, they look much older than their age."
Only days before she died, Samsonova shared the haunting last message: "Life is meaningless but worth living provided you recognise it's meaningless."
The cryptic note written over a selfie with her mouth open came after seven weeks of conspicuous silence on her Instagram.
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Samsonova's official cause of death has not yet been determined and her family are currently fighting to bring her body home.
The Beat Eating Disorders helpline is open 365 days a year. Call 0808 801 0677 or see .
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Signs and symptoms of anorexia
- if you're under 18, your weight and height being lower than expected for your age
- if you're an adult, having an unusually low body mass index
- missing meals, eating very little or avoiding eating any foods you see as fattening
- believing you are fat when you are a healthy weight or underweight
- taking medication to reduce your hunger (appetite suppressants)
- your periods stopping (in women who have not reached menopause) or not starting (in younger women and girls)
- physical problems, such as feeling dizzy, dry skin and hair loss
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