Who Killed Rich Piana? – Celebrity
Bodybuilder Rich Piana has died — just two weeks after being placed in a medically induced coma. He was 46. The former Mr. California’s death was confirmed Friday morning in a Facebook post by his estranged wife Sara Piana.
Piana collapsed in his home on Aug. 10 while getting a haircut from his girlfriend, Chanel Jansen, TMZ Sports reported. He was rushed to the hospital and placed in a medically induced coma.
Bodybuilder Rich Piana may have died after injecting insulin. The professional bodybuilder Rich Piana, who built an army of one million followers on Instagram, died on August 25 after spending two weeks in a coma.
I think if Rich Piana had avoided hitting his head on the way down, he may still be with us today. I personally think his steroid use contributed to him collapsing, but at the end of the day, I think that specific event of him hitting his head that hard was the big thing that sent my favorite bodybuilder to heaven.
How old was Piana when he died?
After spending two weeks in an induced coma to try and reduce swelling to the brain, Piana died on August 25 at the age of 46 . An autopsy revealed “significant heart disease” and that his heart and liver weighed over twice the average amount for an adult male.
Richard Eugene Piana was born in Glendale, California, on September 26, 1970. He was of Armenian descent through his mother and Italian descent through his father. He was raised by his mother in Sacramento, California, and his enthrallment with bodybuilding began when he was six years old; he would go to the gym to watch his mother train for her bodybuilding contests. He was influenced by her and Bill Cambra, an “old-school” bodybuilder. At age 11, he began lifting weights. Four years later, he started competing in bodybuilding contests. During his senior year of high school, he lived with his father in La Crescenta, California. By the age of 18, he already had several titles, including NPC Mr. Teen California in 1989, and had started on a common steroid cycle practice known as “test and deca” that combines testosterone and Deca-Durabolin.
At 1:30 p.m. on August 7, 2017, Piana collapsed while receiving a haircut from Jansen at his home in Clearwater, Florida. He was standing at the time and hit his head when he collapsed. Jansen called the 911 and followed the operator’s instructions to attempt CPR until paramedics arrived about 10 minutes into her call. The paramedics confirmed that Piana’s heart was not beating properly. His heartbeat was eventually restored, but so much time had passed that brain damage had set in from lack of oxygen. After the discovery of crushed white powder along with a straw and a credit card on the table in his home, paramedics administered Narcan, a medication used to counteract a possible opiate overdose. There was later speculation about possible recreational drug use, foul play, or other unknown factors involved in his death. However, Jansen denied that cocaine, heroin, or other drugs were involved, saying that Piana had sometimes snorted a high-caffeine pre-workout supplement and that he did not use recreational drugs. 20 bottles of testosterone were reportedly found in his home. Jansen later said that Piana’s brain had been deprived of oxygen for over 30 minutes. She also said that in the last few days before his collapse, he had exhibited some unusual symptoms including shortness of breath and nausea, and said she was later told these may have been warning signs of an impending cardiac arrest.
Piana was popular in the weightlifting community for his bodybuilding achievements, openness about steroid use in bodybuilding and its associated consequences, and over-the-top extroverted personality.
Piana was married twice . His first marriage ended in divorce after he had an affair. He then had a longstanding on-again, off-again relationship with American fitness model Chanel Jansen. He married Icelandic bodybuilder Sara Heimisdóttir in 2015. They separated in 2016 and he later accused her of using him to qualify for a U.S. green card and stealing money from him. Their marriage was annulled for having occurred under false pretenses, and he resumed his relationship with Jansen, who was his partner at the time of his death. Piana reportedly also had a struggle with opiate addiction at some point, according to Jansen.
In a 2014 YouTube video, Piana said that he had used anabolic steroids over the course of 25 years – since he was 18 years old – and specifically stated that everyone should be aware that using steroids will do damage to their body, but also said that he was willing to take the chance.
He had his own nutrition product line called Rich Piana: 5% Nutrition. He publicly admitted that he had been using anabolic steroids and hormones (including Trenbolone, synthetic human growth hormone, and insulin) as part of his bodybuilding regimen during his career, starting when he was 18 years old.
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How did Rich Piana die?
An American bodybuilding sensation and businessman, Rich Piana was a man who took the world with his ripped muscles. Sadly, he passed away in the month of August 2017. According to sources, he was reportedly getting a haircut from his girlfriend when he suddenly collapsed. All efforts to revive him failed and he was placed on a medically induced coma for two weeks before he succumbed to the cold hands of death. Rich, who was 46 at the time, had competed and won several bodybuilding competitions over the years, including Mr. Teen California which he won in 1989 and the National Physique Committee (NPC) competitions in 2003 and 2009.
Rich Piana was born on the 26 th of September, 1970. He is of Armenian and Italian descent. His fascination with bodybuilding began at an early age, specifically when he was six years old. His mother competed regularly as a bodybuilder, so he was always with her at the gym where she trained. Apart from his mum, another notable influence was Bill Cambra. Rich began weightlifting at the age of 11. When he was 15, he started competing in bodybuilding contests. At this point he was already a senior in high school, so he stayed with his dad in La Crescenta, California.
At 1:30 p.m. on the 7 th of August, 2017, while receiving a haircut from his girlfriend at home, Rich Piana collapsed. Jansen called the emergency operator 911 and followed their directions to attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation until paramedics reached her. Eventually, his heartbeat was restored, but only after so much time had gone by that brain damage had occurred due to the absence of oxygen. Paramedics administered Narcan after discovering an unidentified crushed white powder along with a straw and a credit card on the table in his home. Narcan is a medication used to counteract a possible overdose of opiate.
The hard work paid off and accolades started rolling in when Rich Piana was 18 years old. He won the IFBB Mr. Teen California competition in 1989. in 1998, 9 years later, he was named IFBB Mr. California. His career spanned about 25 years in total. He won the National Physique Committee (NPC) competitions in the 2003 Los Angeles Super-Heavyweight Division, 2009 Sacramento Super-Heavyweight Division, and the 2009 Border States Classic Super-Heavyweight Division and overall championship.
Naturally, as a famous face , Rich Piana also scored some primetime on print and TV. He was featured on the cover of the November 1998 issue of Ironman magazine, an American publication which discusses bodybuilding, weightlifting, and powerlifting and has been in publication since 1936. On TV, he made a brief appearance as none other than The Incredible Hulk in an episode of the television series Scrubs, an American medical comedy-drama television series. Rich was also on an episode of Malcolm in the Middle, where he played an oiled-up muscle man character named Marcus. He also appeared to be one of the main focuses of a 2017 bodybuilding documentary titled Generation Iron 2.
He was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills, California.
There were speculations about his possible use of recreational drugs, fo ul play, or other unknown factors in his death. However, his girlfriend Jansen rejected the involvement of cocaine, heroin, or other drugs, stating he sometimes drank a pre-workout supplement of high-caffeine and did not use recreational drugs. An autopsy revealed “significant heart disease” and that his heart and liver weighed over twice the average amount for an adult male. Rich Piana knew that his organs had been enlarged and that this was a known side effect of the steroids and hormones he had taken since he started bodybuilding. However, he was not aware that this put him at risk for cardiac arrest.
What happened to Rich Piana?
I personally think throughout all of this what happened is: Rich Piana’s heart started to have some complications after he ingested that pre-workout, tipping him over his caffeine limit for the day. After that happened, he collapsed and hit his head on the table very hard, starting swelling within his brain.
He was placed in a medical induced coma to prevent further damage to his brain that was being pressed against his skull. If his brain was swelling, things must’ve been pretty bad.
Rich Piana’s Enlarged Organs. Rich Piana had been on many different steroids throughout his life, some gave growth hormones, some were just testosterone supplements. However, a very common side effect of taking steroids is enlarged organs. Upon death, Rich Piana’s organs were double the size of a normal person.
I think Rich Piana was overtraining, he worked out for nearly 4 hours a day minimum , and would often stay in that gym all day sometimes. Including his famous 8 hour arm workouts.
An article publicized later on November 14th by TMZ.com also states that Rich Piana was snorting a pre-workout powder called “CON-CRET Pre-Workout Powder” (Read: Everything You Need To Know About Creatine) which seems to have been taken off of the market now. The article also claims it was a high caffeine booster.
Shortly before Rich Piana left humanity behind, he was recently divorced, was accused of trying to beatup a mentally challenged person, and got into a fist fight with one of his former buddies.
Rich Piana had a huge history of drinking tons of caffeine before and after his workouts. Infact, in one of his videos I remember him drinking nearly 300mg of caffeine in just his pre-workout shake. He had developed a very high tolerance to the drug.
Who is Rich Piana?
Rich Piana was a celebrity bodybuilder who was born in 1971 in Northridge, Los Angeles, California. He has competed in several bodybuilding competitions over the years, including Mr. California, and became a social media sensation with over 1.0 million followers on Instagram!
Piana was placed in an induced coma following an overdose earlier this month. Police found 20 bottles of steroids (testosterone) and crushed white powder in his Florida home after he collapsed in his bathroom.
Chanel also revealed to law enforcement that Piana had been using steroids for more than 20 years.
Chanel took to social media to ask others to respect the family’s difficult time and send Piana well wishes and prayers for his recovery, but made a note of confirming that he was indeed still alive at that time.
Piana is survived by his family, his girlfriend Chanel, and his estranged wife, Sara Heimisdottir.
Rich Piana and Steroids. In the past, Piana has admitted that he used steroids and told fans that “it comes with the job” and that he was in control of it. He said: “If you have the choice to stay natural or do steroids, stay natural. There’s no reason to do steroids, you’re only hurting your body, you’re hurting yourself.
