Sarah Becker, a cast member on MTV’s The Real World, died at 52 by suicide.
The news of her death arrived Sunday, with TMZ reporting she died last week at her home in Illinois.
According to the publication, she had moved from California to Illinois to take care of family.
Although she was caring for her mother and sister, Becker reportedly planned to move back to California at some point.
The former reality TV star struggled with mental health issues, something a castmate indicated they weren’t aware of until recently. In addition, TMZ reported Sarah had a skateboarding accident, which added to her struggles.
Several of Sarah’s former roommates reacted to the news of her passing by sharing memories about their co-star.
Sarah appeared in The Real World: Miami season
Becker is considered amongst MTV OGs, having appeared in the fifth season of the network’s hit show, The Real World. She roomed with castmates in Miami, Florida, with the episodes first airing in 1996.
Sarah’s Miami roommates included Dan Renzi, Melissa Padron, Joe Patane, Cynthia Roberts, Mike Lambert, and Flora Alekseyeva.
When the show first aired, Sarah was 25, a graduate of Indiana University, working at Wildstorm Comics in La Jolla, California.
She described herself as a “19-year-old trapped in a 25-year-old body,” while MTV described her as a “tomboy.”
Her interests and hobbies included skateboarding, dressing up as TV characters, and collecting empty Blistex tubes or Swatch watches.
The Real World: Miami introduced a new twist for the show. The cast received $50,000, which they had to use to create a successful business. Unfortunately, they were unable to perform the task, and the business failed by the end of the season.
According to TMZ, Sarah’s family described her as selfless and caring for others.
Sarah’s Real World co-stars reacted to their former roommate’s death
While many Real World stars later appeared in MTV’s The Challenge, Sarah never competed in any seasons. Several of her Real World castmates were on MTV’s competition series, including Dan, Cynthia, and Flora. In recent years, Cynthia and Flora returned to reality TV for the spinoff, The Challenge: All Stars.
Flora appeared in the most recent spinoff season, The Challenge: All Stars 4 on Paramount+, and remembered her castmate in an Instagram post.
“I am beyond myself and sad to just hear that my roomate Sarah died. I can’t believe this . She was the most selfless person I knew. She was always kind and helpful to everyone,” Flora wrote in her IG caption.
“I haven’t spoken to her in years and never knew she was troubled. My prayers go out to her family. RIP my roomate, my friend. May you skate with angels and never feel pain again #therealworldmiami,” the former Real World star wrote.
Former The Real World: Miami and The Challenge star Dan also reacted to the news of Sarah’s death.
Dan indicated he knew of the death of his former roommate, but they “had not spoken since the end of the show, so I don’t know anything about her struggles.”
“The seven of us in that cast went through a bizarre, intense, and sometimes traumatic experience together, and that creates a connection between people, even when they choose to not associate with each other,” he wrote on a TikTok video shared to Instagram.
“I can only say, it’s very sad,” Dan wrote.
“We were very happy that day,” he wrote over another photo of him and his castmates posing in front of a Miami backdrop.
The photo features Dan hugging Sarah and all seven roommates smiling.
“Today not so much Today is very sad Life is short Keep your loved ones close,” Dan wrote under the image.
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