Tyra Banks pays tribute to ANTM’s Jael Strauss after cancer battle
Jael Strauss, who was a contestant in season eight of America's Next Top Model, sadly passed away on December 4th of this year.
The 34-year-old model lost her battle to breast cancer, only two months after she was initially diagnosed.
'The one blessing was that we were able to show her how loved she was before she passed,' her family said in a statement to TMZ.
Tyra Banks, who iconically hosted the ANTM show, was criticised on Twitter for not posting or releasing a statement about Jael's death.
However, the talk show host has since posted on Twitter to reflect her sadness on Jael's passing:
'Top Model has lost a beautiful soul,' she wrote.
Top Model has lost a beautiful soul. We will all remember Jael and her fun-loving spirit and beautiful soul.
— Tyra Banks (@tyrabanks) 5 December 2018
'We will all remember Jael and her fun-loving spirit and beautiful soul.'
Jael was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer in October of this year. Taking to Facebook, the model wrote:
'I was gonna write some long thing but some of you guys deserve to know, On October 2nd I was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer. It has aggressively spread throughout my body and is incurable.'
'With treatment it may prolong my life longer than the ‘few months’ doctors said I could make it. I don’t want to die. I need another one of those miracles that I got back in 2013.'
In 2013, Jael received treatment for substance abuse and addiction, after appearing on the Dr Phil show. In August of this year, Jael celebrated five years on sobriety – an amazing achievement.
Our thoughts are with Jael's family at this time.
