Born Richard Eugene Piana, Rich Piana was a well-known American bodybuilder who did everything to have the perfect body and keep it in shape, and he achieved it until his sudden death in 2017. Before passing away, Piana won several competitions which earned him several titles like Mr. Teen. California title which he won in 1989 after competing in an International Federation of Bodybuilders (IFBB) competition, he also won the 1998 IFBB Mr. California and National Physique Committee (NPC) competitions in 2003 and 2009 respectively . Learn more about the bodybuilder; biography, career and what led to his death.
Who was Rich Piana?
As mentioned above, Rich Piana is a US bodybuilder. He was born in Glendale, California on September 26, 1970, to an Italian-born father and an Armenian-born mother. He had developed an interest in bodybuilding as a child when he followed his mother to the gym and attended her practices for her bodybuilding competitions. Besides his mother, Piana was also very inspired and influenced by an old school bodybuilder, he named him Bill Cambra.
Career
Influenced by these two important figures in his life, Rich began training and weightlifting at the age of eleven. At the age of fifteen, he was already participating in bodybuilding contests. By eighteen, he had already won several titles, including the 1989 IFBB Mr Teen California. In 2003, he won several competitions and titles, including competitions between NPCs in the super heavyweight division of Los Angeles. In 2009, he won the Sacramento super heavyweight and Border States Classic super heavyweight divisions, as well as the overall championship. in 2009.
In 1998 he appeared on the cover of the November issue of Iron Man magazine and in 2015 he appeared in the summer issue of Muscle Sports magazine.
Rich embarked on a steroid cycle practice called “Test and Deca” after he turned eighteen. The practice involves a combination of an anabolic steroid called testosterone (the main male sex hormone) and Deca-Durabolin – generically called Nandrolone. It took twenty-five years for Rich Piana to realize the harm he had done to his body by using steroids. He then publicly admitted that the risks he was taking by using these substances were very high. He added that he knew the dangers but was still willing to take the risk, but had advised aspiring bodybuilders to go natural and avoid steroid use altogether if they could.
Who was wife or girlfriend?
Piana married twice. his first wife’s name is not known, but they reportedly broke up after cheating. In 2015, he married Icelandic bodybuilder Sara Heimisdóttir, but the marriage ended the following year, after he accused her of stealing him and using him to gain US residency. The marriage was therefore annulled for false pretense. Prior to his second marriage, Piana had had an on-and-off relationship with Chanel Jansen, and after his marriage to Sara ended, he resumed his relationship with Jansen, who was with him at the time of his death.
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How did he die?
Rich Piana died on August 25, 2017, two weeks after being placed in a medically induced coma after suffering cardiac arrest at his Florida home. Piana had collapsed at his home on August 7, 2017 after sufferingA sudden cardiac arrest while his girlfriend and fitness model, Chanel Jansen, gave him a haircut.
According to Jansen, he was standing at the time he collapsed and hit his head. She called the emergency service, who gave her instructions on how to give her CPR before paramedics arrived. When the medical team finally arrived ten minutes later, they confirmed that her heart was not beating properly. When his heartbeat was finally restored, so much time passed, which resulted in brain damage caused by lack of oxygen.
Paramedics reportedly discovered crushed white powder in his home next to a straw and were to administer Narcan (a drug used to combat a possible opiate overdose). By the time the police arrived at his home, they reportedly found no less than twenty bottles of testosterone. Piana finally died on August 25, 2017 after spending two weeks in a medically induced coma, he was 46 years old.
An autopsy performed on him would later reveal The autopsy also revealed that Rich Piana’s heart and liver were enlarged and weighed twice that of an average adult male. Chanel confirmed this by stating that the bodybuilder was aware that his organs were enlarged as a result of the steroids and hormone medications he had been taking for years, but he was unaware of the risk of sudden pain. that he was undergoing. cardiac arrest.
His net worth
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Piana’s fortune at the time of his death, he was earning $4 million, income from his body shop career as well as his business. Rich Piana had its own line of nutrition products called Rich Piana: 5% Nutrition.