Singaporean Bling Empire star dies after skiing accident

Lynn Ban, a famous Singapore jewelry designer who starred in the Netflix reality show Bling Empire, died a month after undergoing brain surgery following a skiing accident.

Her son Sebastian confirmed her death in an Instagram post on Wednesday, where he paid tribute to his 51-year-old mother as a “best friend and best mother.”

The accident occurred in Aspen, United States, on Christmas Eve.

Ban’s family did not reveal the immediate cause of his death.

In a social media post on New Year’s Eve, Ban revealed that while skiing at the top of a mountain he had fallen and “face-first into the ground.”

Because she was wearing a helmet, “at the time it didn’t seem that bad and I was able to ski to the bottom,” she said, adding that a ski patrol officer later checked to see if she had a concussion and she was cleared.

But he still had “a bit of a headache” and decided to go to a hospital, on the advice of a paramedic. He then discovered he had a brain hemorrhage and underwent an emergency craniotomy.

“In the blink of an eye… life can change,” she had written in the post, which was accompanied by a photo of her in bed with her head partially shaved. “There is a long road of recovery ahead, but I am a survivor.”

Born in Singapore, Ban had worked in New York, London and Paris.

Her designs have been worn by pop stars Madonna, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Cardi B and Billie Eilish, according to her website.

In Bling Empire New York in 2023, she was part of a cast of Asian-American socialites who “flaunt their fortunes and fashions while bringing the drama and living it up in New York City,” according to Netflix.

In his tribute, Sebastian Ban said he wanted the world to know who his mother was as a person.

“She always had a smile on her face, even during the difficult times during her recovery process,” he said.

“She is a fighter until the end and is the strongest woman I know,” he said.