Singapore’s Bling Empire star dies after skiing accident

Lynn Ban, the famous Singaporean jewelry designer who starred in the Netflix reality show Bling Empire, has 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 his “best friend and best mother”.

The accident happened in Aspen, USA on Christmas Eve.

Ban’s family did not release an immediate cause of his death.

In a post on social media on New Year’s Eve, Bane revealed that he fell while skiing at the top of a mountain and “face planted.”

With the helmet on, “it didn’t feel that bad at the time and I was able to ski down to the bottom,” he said, adding that a ski patrol officer checked him for a concussion and cleared him.

But he still had “a bit of a headache” and decided to go to the hospital, on the advice of a paramedic. Then he discovered he had a brain bleed, and went in for an emergency craniotomy.

“In the blink of an eye … life can change,” he wrote in the message, along with a photo of his partially severed head in bed. “There is a long road to recovery ahead of me, but I survived.”

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

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

In 2023, she was part of the cast of Bling Empire New York, an Asian American socialite who, according to Netflix, “brings drama and liveliness to New York City as they flaunt their fortunes — and fashions —.”

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

“He always had a smile on his face, even though there were tough times in his recovery process,” she said.

“She’s a fighter to the end and the strongest woman I know,” she said.