The star of 2009’s series of Big Brother Rekebah Shelton has died unexpectedly
** This story has been updated, click here to read the update.
Rebekah Shelton, who fans of the show may remember her when she entered the house as Rodrigo Lopes, has died unexpectedly at the age of 32. The news was confirmed by a Tweet from her official, verified Twitter account. Rekebah was, according to her Twitter account living in Dubai.
A tweet from her personal account read, “We’re sorry to inform everyone of the sad news that our wonderful and lovely Rebekah died unexpectedly on Wednesday night.
“We ask that you respect the family’s privacy at this time.”
Ms Shelton hadn’t been using the platform much in 2017. Her last update was in November when she updated her profile picture (ABOVE). The tweet before that was sent in June and said, “Im [sic] sending this tweet to you people who still like me for some reason. People from the UK who always loved and accepted me for who I am”.
Rebekah Shelton transitioned in 2012. Speaking about her transition she said, “I always felt like I had a woman inside of me, always, but I used to hide it. I’ve always liked make-up, treatments and other womanly things, and I was 18 when I first started experimenting. But early this year I told my best friend Andrea how I was really feeling.
“She encouraged me. When I came back to the UK I started wearing my friends’ clothes first, then I began shopping for them”.
Emotional about transition
In early 2017 an emotional Shelton shared a video on Twitter over her confusion and upset over her transition. Speaking via Twitter, in Tweets that she’s now deleted, she spoke of her journey, since embarking on a series of operations to fulfil her transition. She spoke of her loneliness and the discrimination she’s faced since beginning her physical transition.
She was left questioning whether the transition was worth it.
The videos were uploaded after she managed to log into her old Rodrigo Facebook account and left the star feeling emotional. She said,
“I went on, after five years, I was trying to find the Facebook account, as Rodrigo, you know, from the past. I was shocked, it’s hard to go through everything I’ve been through – having all these surgeries and things. It’s crazy when you look at yourself and the way you used to be, and it makes you wonder, what have I done?”
“If you are following me and you want to transition, think. Think, once, twice, three times, four times, five times, because it’s not easy. You have more opportunities in your birth gender because there is still discrimination. There is still discrimination, you know so just think.”
Ill Health and Coma
In 2014 the star fell into a coma after it was discovered she had a brain tumour.
Taking to Shelton’s official Twitter her family tweeted, ‘The doctors found a head tumour and she is in come [sic]. We cannot speak anymore. Please just pray for our Rebekah’
The cause of Shelton’s death is unknown at this time.
