Popular plus-size model Mia Amber Davis passed away yesterday due to complications following knee surgery. She was only 36.
According to Mia’s close friends, Madeline Figueroa Jones (of Plus Model Magazine) and Corey Punzi, the actress and model was active in sports, such as tennis and basketball. But she suffered for years with knee pain due to an old college basketball injury. Her friends say Mia was “not an advocate of cosmetic surgery.”
Davis’ husband, comedian Michael Yard, told celebrity gossip blog TMZ.com that Davis was going to a Los Angeles hospital to have corrective surgery performed on her knee.
But hours later, Mike says he got a phone call from Mia’s cousin informing him that she was taking Mia back to the hospital because Mia was experiencing dizziness.
Soon afterwards came the shocking phone call informing him that his wife had tragically passed away.
Mike told TMZ.com that he immediately took a plane from New York to L.A. — and he wants answers. “I want to know what happened to my wife.”
According to Fox News blog, the actress and model began her career as a producer for the 90s talk show “The Ricki Lake Show,” “Change of Heart” and “Divorce Court.”
She was also face of retail company Ashley Stewart for years. But it was her role in the 2000 film “Road Trip as Rhonda, a plus size woman who seduces geeky character Kyle Edwards, played by actor DJ Qualls, that earned her national fame.
Davis, who served as creative editor-at-large for Plus Model Magazine, was often considered to be one of the most successful plus size models working in the industry, modeling for brands like Lane Bryant, Just My Size, Ashley Stewart and Monif C.
She also appeared on “The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency,” “Kimora’s Life in the Fab Lane’ and advocated for size-acceptance on several news networks.
Plus Model Magazine Editor-in-Chief Madeline Jones tells FOX411 that Davis’ unexpected death is a devastating blow to the industry’s “mission for acceptance in the main stream modeling and fashion industry.”“Mia Amber Davis was a woman of integrity who was adored by friends around the world,” Jones told FOX411. “As the curviest plus size model to grace brands like Just My Size and Ashley Stewart, she proudly represented for the millions of women who wear a size 18 and up, and inspired them to look and feel beautiful.”
