Australian model and swimwear designer Sahara Ray, who reportedly once dated Justin Bieber, has died. She was 34.
In a statement shared with TMZ, her family said: “She passed away last night surrounded by family at the hospital. She was so loved.” At this time, no cause of death has been disclosed.
Ray was the daughter of iconic Australian surfer Tony Ray. She spent much of her life between the coastal United States and her homeland. Over the years, she built a successful modeling career and her own swimwear brand.
In 2016, Sahara Ray was rumored to be dating Justin Bieber. The pair were spotted vacationing together in Hawaii. Notably, Ray was also once romantically linked to singer Cody Simpson.
Justin Bieber and Sahara Ray reportedly dated back in 2016
Ray was the mother of one daughter, Snow, who is less than a year old. She got pregnant with her child roughly a year after surviving a car accident and developing Guillain-Barré syndrome. Ray’s final Instagram post from July 2026 was a photo of her baby.
In 2024, she spoke out about his illness and clarified some misconceptions. “This is really hard to deal with,” she said then. “And I’ve been trying to keep a good attitude and be hopeful that my feeling comes back. But there’s always a chance it just stays like this.”
Ray explained that she was paralyzed “from the tops of my thighs all the way down to my upper feet”. She added that she was “primarily in a wheelchair,” because she could not “walk at all.”
Sahara Ray was a mother of one who also lived with Guillain-Barré syndrome
The model noted that she was living with “a very serious & rare neurological disorder I have to live with. The condition is called Guillain-Barré syndrome that is triggered by an acute bacterial or viral infection.”
She went on to say, “It’s so unbelievably sad that people would make such a false narrative on such a sensitive subject. Anyone with this illness, feel free to speak out. & I’m here to help; just send me a DM. Love u all.”
Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images
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