Former WWE superstar Chyna dead at age 45
Wrestling legend Joanie 'Chyna' Laurer was found dead in her California home
Wrestling legend Chyna was found dead last Wednesday by manager and friend Anthony Anzaldo, who told FOX411 he discovered the star in her home in her bed.
“I found her on Wednesday afternoon,” he recalled. “I called 911 and they came and I was there for couple of hours.”
Anzaldo said though Chyna’s cause of death has not yet been determined by the coroner’s office, he is certain she died of an “accidental overdose of legally died prescription drugs.”
“Over the course of three weeks she inadvertently began taking her meds inappropriately and those meds were Ambien for sleep and a form of a Valium for anxiety,” he said. “No alcohol was found in her apartment, no illegal drugs.”
He said Chyna was discovered in her bed with two bottles of prescription drugs on her nightstand. Those drugs we legally prescribed and there will pills in the bottles, he insisted.
Chyna died on Sunday night or Monday morning to the best of Anzaldo’s knowledge.
The 46-year-old’s brain was donated to science following her sudden death.
“Dr. [Bennet Ifeakandu] Omalu has her brain,” he told us.
Omalu, a researcher of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, was recently portrayed by Will Smith in the film “Concussion,” which focused on groundbreaking brain injury research.
Chyna,whose real name is Joan Marie Laurer, was billed as the "9th Wonder of the World" because her wrestling predecessor Andre the Giant had already called himself the eighth. She was a member of the WWE squad that dubbed itself "D-Generation X" and at one point was the women's champion.
After leaving the WWE in 2001, Laurer was determined to stay active in the entertainment industry. She wrote her memoir, became a semi-regular on Howard Stern's radio show and appeared in TV sitcoms like "3rd Rock From the Sun" and reality shows including "The Surreal Life." She was in Playboy twice and appeared in a string of porn movies. Laurer later came clean about her struggles with drugs on "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew."
She joins a long list of WWE professional wrestlers who have died relatively young, including Rick Rude, Curt "Mr. Perfect" Hennig, the Ultimate Warrior and Owen Hart.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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