Bling Empire star Anna Shay has died at 62. In a statement to People, her family stated that the billionaire heiress passed unexpectedly from a stroke.
“It saddens our hearts to announce that Anna Shay, a loving mother, grandmother, charismatic star, and our brightest ray of sunshine, has passed away at the early age of 62 from a stroke,” the statement reads.
It continues, “Anna taught us many life lessons on how not to take life too seriously and to enjoy the finer things. Her impact on our lives will be forever missed but never forgotten.”
Shay quickly cemented herself as a fan-favorite on Bling Empire when the show premiered in 2021. Described as a real-life Crazy Rich Asians, the reality show follows a cast of uber-wealthy Asian socialites in Los Angeles.
On the show, Shay was described as “half-Japanese and half-Russian and super, super wealthy” according to her co-star Kane Lim.
“Her money comes from weapons. Her father sells bombs, guns, defense technology,” Lim claimed.
Shay has since denied that her family’s money came “from weapons,” though an NBC report claims father’s company, the Pacific Architects and Engineers, or PAE, played a major role in covering for the CIA’s deadly operations during the Vietnam War.
Often deemed the richest cast member on Bling Empire, Shay was born to businessman Edward Shay and Ai Oizumi Shay. She grew up in Tokyo for the first eight years of her life, where she attended international school. Speaking to Town & Country, she recalled a number of colorful anecdotes from her childhood, where she talked about having a pet monkey as a girl and learning to pilot a helicopter when she trained with the military.
She told the magazine she decided to get married when the company was passed over to her brother, Allen Shay, instead of her, when their father died in 1995. The siblings later sold the company to Lockheed Martin in 2006 for $1.2 billion.
She led a rather reclusive life until she began working on Bling Empire. According to her profile in Town & Country, she spent much of her time renovating her sprawling estates where she lived with nine Golden Retrievers.
“I mean, whatever it is on the show is how I am,” she said. Shay said at the time that appearing on the show was her way of “doing something for herself.”
“It was held as high value in the family to be private,” Bling Empire producer Jeff Jenkins said of Shay. “She’ll tell you the three most important people in her life are her mom and dad and her son. Well, her mom and dad are passed now, so maybe that gives her just a little bit of a feeling of their blessing to share her life.”
Shay is survived by her son, Kenny Kemp.