Former Bachelor Contestant Lex McAllister Dies From Apparent Suicide — (Jezebel)

Wednesday, February 17th, 2016
SSRI Ed note: Contestant on T.V. show, diagnosed with depression and bipolar, threatens suicide, overdoses on prescription medication and dies.

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Jezebel

Ellie Shechet

2016-02-17T17:40:00-05:00″>2/17/16 5:40pm

Lex McAllister, who appeared on the first episode of Jake Pavelka’s 2010 season of The Bachelor, died of an apparent suicide after a drug overdose on Tuesday morning.

 According to TMZ, Columbus, OH law enforcement officers received a call on Saturday from a person who stated that McAllister, 31, had threatened suicide and appeared to have overdosed. She was taken to the hospital in stable condition, but was removed from life support on Tuesday. She was reportedly with family at the time of her death, as McAllister’s sister-in-law Julie Turner McAllister told People:

“Her mom and dad, her brother and myself, her sister, and a cousin named Jana that had been raised like another sibling were all at bedside,” she says, explaining that the 31-year-old had taken a combination of two different prescription medications mixed with Tylenol and aspirin.

“In the short time that we knew Lex, she was a lovely person inside and out,” The Bachelor crew and producers said in a statement to E! News on Wednesday morning. “She will be missed by the entire Bachelor family, and we extend our heartfelt condolences to her family and friends.”

Former Bachelor Jake Pavelka, along with other members of the “Bachelor family,” expressed their condolences on social media.

A family member told TMZ that McAllister struggled with depression and bipolar disorder. McAllister is the second contestant from Jake Pavelka’s popular season, “On the Wings of Love,” to die in an apparent suicide attempt, and the third cast member from the franchise to commit suicide.

Gia Allemand, a finalist from Jake’s season who also competed on Bachelor Pad, hung herself with a vacuum cleaner cord in 2013; her mother blamed Gia’s death on mood swings tied to her menstrual cycle (and sources told Radar Online that Allemand passed the show’s psychiatric evaluation), but friends told the New York Post that Gia had suffered from depression. Julien Hug, a contestant on Jillian’s season of The Bachelorette, killed himself in 2010 after suffering from depression.

Shortly following Allemand’s death three years ago, Bachelor host Chris Harrison tweeted out a statement, and showrunner Mike Fleiss called her death a “devastating loss.” As of publication, both have yet to comment on McAllister’s death.

An autopsy is scheduled for later today.

Contact the author at ellie@jezebel.com.