Gold medal track Olympian Tori Bowie weighed just 96 pounds at eight months pregnant when she died at home in bed
- Tori Bowie was urged by close friends to ‘eat for two’ just days before her death
- The track star weighed just 96 pounds, despite being eight months pregnant
- READ MORE: Bowie had a history of ‘erratic behavior’ before her tragic death
Olympic star Tori Bowie’s weight dropped below 100 pounds despite being eight months pregnant as loved ones tried to convince her to ‘eat for two’ before her tragic death last month, a friend has revealed.
Bowie, 32, was found dead in her Florida home on May 2 due to complications from childbirth, with an autopsy finding she was ‘undergoing labor’ when she died, according to TMZ.
The gold medalist’s agent and longtime friend Kimberly Holland has revealed how the star’s health had been rapidly deteriorating before her tragic death.
Holland told NBC News she had been lecturing Bowie about ‘eating for two’ as she watched her struggle with her weight, but the track star pushed her away.
‘I started to come off, I think, a little preachy, because she started to shut me down and she was like, ‘Miss Kim, the baby is fine.’ So that was my cue to leave it alone,’ she said.
American sprinter and Olympic gold medalist Tori Bowie was found dead aged 32
Kimberly Holland (right) said her close friend and client Tori Bowie (left) was struggling to eat enough before her tragic death last month, but was ‘so happy’ to be expecting a child
At the height of her career, Bowie struck gold at the 2016 Olympic Games, and was renowned as the fastest woman in the world.
But those that knew her have since revealed a history of unsettling behavior, with one neighbor telling DailyMail.com her life was ‘erratic and unhealthy’.
Holland said her attempts to steer Bowie back on track through her pregnancy were in vain, but said her friends and family never suspected her life was at risk.
‘As an adult, you make your own decisions,’ she said, admitting that Bowie had never been a ‘really big eater’.
‘We probably would have handled everything differently to make sure everything was done properly.’
Despite her autopsy listing bipolar disorder on her medical history, Holland said the sprinter was in good spirits during their last conversation.
‘(She was) just so happy,’ she said, adding that Bowie had already bought baby clothes and was ‘looking forward to this new chapter in her life’.
‘I thought that conversation, overall, was a conversation of new beginnings,’ continued Holland, who managed Bowie’s career but insisted their relationship was ‘more than an athlete-manager relationship.’
‘She was like, you know, my daughter,’ she added.
Bowie (right) poses with her gold medal alongside teammates (L-R) Aaliyah Brown, Allyson Felix and Morolake Akinosun
Tori with her sister Tamarra, who alluded to mental health struggles being to blame for her death
Bowie was once the fastest woman in the world at the height of her track career
Holland conceded that she had concerns about Bowie’s pregnancy, and when she asked whether she was going to her prenatal appointments, Bowie brushed her off and insisted she didn’t intend to have her baby in a hospital.
The agent tried to convince Bowie to stay in her Atlanta home to help her through the final stages of her pregnancy and ensure she was cared for.
Bowie rejected the offer, and an autopsy report concluded that the athlete weighed just 96 pounds when she died despite being eight months pregnant.
The autopsy report noted that there were no signs of foul play or drugs, and listed possible complications contributing to her death as respiratory distress and eclampsia – a rare pregnancy condition that can cause seizures and comas.
Friends and neighbors have recalled a series of bizarre incidents from Bowie’s past, including one local who said the sprinter once clutched a knife and screamed at her boyfriend in the street.
The celebrated track star is also said to have pelted eggs at the house opposite in the Orlando suburb of Winter Garden.
Her final Instagram post alluded to a years-long absence from competing in track & field events
Bowie’s $500,000 home had been on the verge of being repossessed over the past two years because she owed more than $22,000 to her homeowners’ association, according to court filings seen by DailyMail.com
As seen in DailyMail.com photos, her garage door had been left wide open for the past three months
At least two neighbors separately told DailyMail.com that Bowie appeared to be around seven or eight months pregnant when Orange County deputies carried out a welfare check at 1pm Tuesday and found her body.
‘She was a thin woman and it looked like she had half a basketball under her shirt,’ said one.
‘I came out of my house one time, and she was standing there in the street clutching a knife and shouting at a man,’ recalled next-door neighbor Zehra Ugurlu, 52.
‘A family friend of mine managed to talk to her and calm her down but it was scary, it made my daughters uncomfortable.
‘Her life was erratic and unhealthy but I’m very sorry about what happened to her. She was so young. Why didn’t her friends help her?’
Bowie’s $500,000 home had been on the verge of being repossessed over the past two years because she owed more than $22,000 to her homeowners’ association, according to court filings seen by DailyMail.com.
The garage door had been left wide open for the past three months and the front door and windows were frequently left ajar, prompting locals to wonder whether the two-bed property had been taken over by squatters.
‘We’ve heard shouting and screaming, loud music in the middle of the night. But what shocked me was that she appeared to have gotten much better lately,’ said another neighbor and friend, who declined to be named.
‘Having a baby seemed like it had made her happier. That’s what makes it so sad – we are talking about two lost lives.
‘It goes to show that you can have fame, success, everything in the world but it won’t fix what’s going wrong on the inside. She had personal demons but she was a good person.’
Bowie last competed on the world stage at the 2019 World Championships held in Qatar
Bowie enjoyed endorsements from Adidas and starred in a Valentino ad campaign as she rose to fame
Bowie last competed on the world stage in 2019 at the Qatar World Championships but has spent the last four years living quietly in Florida, occasionally doing modeling work for Valentino and ESPN.
After winning bronze at the 2015 World Championships, Bowie qualified for the US Olympic Team for Rio 2016, where she raced to silver in the 100m and took bronze in the 200m.
Alongside fellow sprinters English Gardner, Allyson Felix, and Tianna Bartoletta she bagged a gold medal for Team USA in the 4×100 meter relay.
She won the 100m dash at the 2017 World Championships, cementing herself as the fastest woman in the world at the time.
In a video after she shot to stardom, Bowie said she’d struggled her ‘entire life’ but was inspired by her family and faith.
‘I come from a small town called Sand Hill, Mississippi. Where I come from, we’re not supposed to succeed. It’s been a struggle since day one. My birth mom dropped me off in foster care when I was two years old.
‘My entire life has been a struggle. It’s amazing hearing it, it’s something I always dreamed of. It’s humbling. I’ve been through so much and I haven’t let anything defeat me yet.’
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