Michael Fortunato, who was the ‘catfisher’ on the popular MTV show Catfish, died in Connecticut on Saturday at the age of 26, says Us Weekly. The medical examiner’s office in Farmington, Connecticut told MTV that Fortunato died from a pulmonary embolism due to deep vein thrombosis, coupled with Fortunato’s “obesity and cardiomyopathy.” According to his younger sister Gena, Michael tried driving himself to the hospital coming from work, but never made it because he swerved and hit a fence. He was transported to the hospital, and died two hours later.
On the episode Michael was featured on, it was revealed that he was in an online relationship for seven years with a girl named Ashley Sawyer. They were both “catfishing” each other- making each other think that they were different online than they actually are in real life. After she initially turned him down because of his size (a move that the Huffington Post called “shallow hypocrisy” because of her own struggles with weight), it seems that the two had sparked a relationship. Ashley, 20, told MTV that she texted Fortunato the morning of his death, and that they were in love.
According to MTV, “The two had planned to spend New Year’s together in her hometown of Atlanta, when she and Gena would finally get to meet. In fact, Mike invited Gena to the New Year’s trip during the last conversation with her brother.
“Me and him were very much in love… We were definitely moving forward,” Sawyer said. ”If more people were like Mike, everybody would be a little happier in the world.”
Nev Schulman and Max Joseph, the stars of Catfish, offered their condolences in a video message, which was shown on last night’s season finale. The show has been renewed for a third season.