Ian Thorpe’s former fiancé Ryan Channing has passed away suddenly while in Bali.
The Perth-based model, lawyer and skincare entrepreneur was rushed to hospital on Sunday, with his passing confirmed on Wednesday.
A friend of Ryan’s confirmed he had been struggling with ‘health issues’ for some time.
He had recently been hospitalised with COVID-19, as stated on his Instagram page in March.
“Covid got me GEWD,” the 32-year-old wrote alongside a selfie taken at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney. However, it’s unclear if the virus played a role in his shocking and sudden death.
A representative for Ian has said his thoughts are with Ryan’s family.
Ryan was Ian’s first official boyfriend since he came out as gay publicly on a UK talk show hosted by Michael Parkinson.
“I’m comfortable saying I’m a gay man. And I don’t want people to feel the same way I did. You can grow up, you can be comfortable and you can be gay,” he said at the time.
Ian and Ryan took up together in 2016, and dated for three years, with Ian confirming their separation in 2019.
“The rumours are true, we have parted ways,” Ian revealed to The Daily Telegraph at the time.
“It has all been very amicable. We have stayed friends,” he confirmed.
Rumours abounded that a struggle for the pair to begin a family was what led to the end of their relationship, but Ian confirmed that was not the case.
“There has been talk Ian wasn’t ready for a family. I can’t comment on his behalf, but that was never a discussion as to why we were separating,” Ryan told WHO in 2019.
“It was more around the busy lifestyles we lead now, and the fact it was hard to manage the relationship with the travel schedules we have.”
In addition to his law qualifications, Ryan owned The Blaq Group, which involved skincare brands Blaq, Flight Mode, and Generation Skin.
His goal was to provide gender-neutral skincare that was Australian-made and natural.
The Blaq Group saw excellent success across the US and Europe, and his vibrant Instagram page saw him refer to himself as ‘The Skintrepreneur’.
“I wanted the products to be approachable for anyone, to be inclusive of both genders as we all face the same skin-concern in one way or another,” he said of his business.
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