Olympic track and field champion Tori Bowie reportedly weighed less than 100 pounds when she died while “undergoing labor” (giving birth) early last month at her home in Florida.
In an interview this week with NBC News, Bowie’s agent and longtime friend Kimberly Holland revealed how she’d lectured her in her final days about the need to eat enough for two people, both her and the baby.
“I started to come off, I think, a little preachy, because she started to shut me down and she was like, ‘Miss Kim, the baby is fine.’ So that was my cue to leave it alone,” she said.
But she didn’t. She kept trying to help Bowie in other ways, only to be rebuffed at every turn.
“When she asked Bowie whether she was going to her prenatal appointments, Bowie brushed her off and said she didn’t want to have her baby in a hospital. Holland said she then offered to have Bowie stay with her at her Atlanta home so she could keep a closer eye on her and make sure she was getting care and eating enough,” NBC News notes.
It, sadly, wasn’t enough, as Bowie died weighing just 96 pounds, according to an autopsy.
Autopsy results for Olympic champion Tori Bowie say she died from complications in childbirth. pic.twitter.com/diYHfnw03a
— Inside Edition (@InsideEdition) June 13, 2023
The autopsy notes that the pregnancy complications she suffered from may have included eclampsia.
“Eclampsia, which is characterized by one or more seizures during pregnancy or in the postpartum period, develops from preeclampsia. …Â Preeclampsia occurs when pregnant women with normal blood pressure suddenly develop high blood pressure, protein in their urine and other complications after 20 weeks of pregnancy,” CNN notes.
“You are at an increased risk if you’re black, if you are overweight, or if you have underlying health conditions. But it can develop in anyone, including someone who’s thin and super healthy,” Dr. Nicole Calloway Rankins, a maternal health advocate and obstetrician-gynecologist, told the outlet.
She added that it’s “theoretically possible that [Bowie] had an eclamptic seizure, and just didn’t recover from that.”
Here’s the key, though: Eclampsia “is not a death sentence,” according to Eleni Tsigas, the CEO of the Preeclampsia Foundation, an advocacy and research organization.
Then why did Bowie die? Possibly because she “obviously wasn’t in the hospital.”
“We’ve learned how to treat eclampsia and preeclampsia with antihypertensive medications and with magnesium sulfate to prevent seizures. There absolutely are interventions that can and should be used to prevent the mother dying and it’s unconscionable that did not happen in this case,” Tsigas said.
These are our Olympic champions. Three of them give birth. Two of them experienced near-death complications. One died.
•Tianna preterm labor 26 wk preemie
•Allyson pre-eclampsia 32 wk preemie
•Tori Bowie at 32, had eclampsia and she & her baby both died.We must do better. pic.twitter.com/kaLAhuNmUk
— Rhonda Fields (@SenRhondaFields) June 16, 2023
Dovetailing back to Bowie, her former neighbors told the Daily Mail that she had a history of acting erratically and crazily.
“I came out of my house one time, and she was standing there in the street clutching a knife and shouting at a man. A family friend of mine managed to talk to her and calm her down, but it was scary. It made my daughters uncomfortable,” one neighbor said.
Another neighbor claimed that she’d started to get better as of late.
“We’ve heard shouting and screaming, loud music in the middle of the night. But what shocked me was that she appeared to have gotten much better lately. Having a baby seemed like it had made her happier,” the neighbor said.
Yet a Facebook post from Bowie’s sister, Tamarra, 36, suggests otherwise.
“People who pretend to be happy have some of the saddest souls and people who do not try to convince the world that they are happy have the most genuine souls, because they are content with just being them for them and nobody else,” she wrote two months ago.
People who pretend to be happy have some of the saddest souls and people who do not try to convince the world that they…
ADVERTISEMENTPosted by Tamarra Bowie on Monday, May 1, 2023
Bowie reportedly also had a lot of money issues.
“Orange County Court Records reveal Bowie … had chalked up 16 traffic infractions since 2019. The Overlook at Hamlin Homeowners Association sued Bowie and an ‘unnamed spouse’ in April 2021 for non-payment of assessments on her property, which she bought for $299,000 in March 2017,” according to the Daily Mail.
She last competed in 2019. Since then, she’s been living quietly in Florida while reportedly doing some modeling work for Valentino and ESPN.
Prior to her essentially retiring, she’d been a rising star.
“After winning bronze at the 2015 World Championships, Bowie qualified for the US Olympic Team for Rio 2016, where she raced to silver in the 100m and took bronze in the 200m. Alongside fellow sprinters English Gardner, Allyson Felix, and Tianna Bartoletta she bagged a gold medal for Team USA in the 4×100 meter relay,” the Daily Mail notes.
“She won the 100m dash at the 2017 World Championships, cementing herself as the fastest woman in the world at the time.”
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
Comment
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.