Tyra Spaulding, who once competed for the Miss Universe Jamaica crown, has died at 26.
Local outlet Caribbean National Weekly reported that her relatives found her unresponsive in her apartment on September 23. Police are treating the case as a suspected suicide.
The Miss Universe Jamaica team addressed her passing on Instagram the following day. Alongside a runway clip of Spaulding dazzling in a yellow gown, they wrote that the organization was “heartbroken” over losing someone whose “light, grace, beauty and kind spirit touched every life she encountered.”
They added that her “smile lit up every room,” and that their thoughts remain with her family and loved ones.
Messages of sympathy quickly filled the comment section beneath the tribute post. Supporters sent prayers to Spaulding’s family and thanked the pageant for honoring her memory.
Weeks before her death, Spaulding openly shared her mental health battle on YouTube. According to Us Weekly, in a video posted September 4, she described feeling locked in a constant fight with her own thoughts.
“Every day I get up, my mind tells me to go and jump off a building. It tells me to go and overdose on pills. It tells me to go and hang myself,” she said, adding that she didn’t know why those urges had begun. “Do I want to die? I mean, it would be easier than having to deal with the ups and downs of life … but right now I am fighting for my life.”
She also wondered aloud how many others might be living with the same kind of pain. “It’s like there’s two different me’s,” she said in the clip. “One of them wants me to live and one of them wants me to die. … It’s me against me over here.”
If you or someone you care about is struggling with thoughts of suicide, free and confidential help is available 24/7. In the United States, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.