Sahara Ray’s sister pays tribute after model’s death at 34: ‘She was magic’

Key Points

• Sahara Ray’s sister, Ruby, is honoring her older sibling after her death.

• The model and designer died on Oct. 18 at age 34.

• “I just want my big sister,” Ruby wrote.

Sahara Ray’s younger sister, Ruby Ray, is speaking honestly about grief following the death of her “vivacious” and “kind” older sibling.

On Tuesday, Ruby penned a heartbreaking tribute in honor of the designer and model, who died on Oct. 18. She was 34.

“My beautiful big sister, Sahara,” Ruby began. “The most vivacious, intelligent, hilarious, kind, empathetic and breathtakingly beautiful soul. A force of nature. A light so bright that this world feels impossibly dimmer without her in it.”

Ruby admitted that she is “left trying to comprehend how someone so full of life can no longer be here to live it” in the wake of her sister’s death.

“From the moment I entered this world, I looked up to her. In my eyes, she was everything extraordinary about being human,” she continued. “She was magic, she was warmth, she was laughter, she was love. She was, to me, the most incredible person to ever walk this earth.”

Ruby added, “How cruel it is to love someone so deeply and have nowhere for that love to go. To have a lifetime of memories behind you, but no more tomorrows together.”

She explained that there aren’t “words in any language capable of holding the weight of this heartbreak,” adding, “I don’t know how to make sense of a world that keeps turning when mine feels as though it has stopped.”

Ruby went on to describe grief as “the most excruciating, all-consuming pain I have ever been doused in,” noting that it “reaches into the deepest parts of your soul, into places you never knew existed, and leaves an emptiness that no words could ever begin to describe.”

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She continued, “And beneath all this grief, all this disbelief, all this unbearable heartache, is the simplest, most devastating truth. I just want my big sister.”

Ruby wrote that she wanted “more time,” “more laughter,” and “more conversations’ with Sahara. “If love alone could have kept you here, Sahara, you would have lived a thousand lifetimes,” she concluded. “I will spend the rest of mine loving you.”

Sahara’s family confirmed the model and designer’s death in a statement to TMZ on Monday. “She passed away last night surrounded by family at the hospital,” they said. “She was so loved.” A cause of death was not immediately revealed.

The daughter of surfing legend Tony Ray, Sahara was born in Australia and raised in California. She went on to launch her own swimwear line, Sahara Ray Swim.

In 2024, Sahara opened up about her battle with Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that left her partially paralyzed and unable to walk following a car accident with an alleged drunk driver.

She welcomed her first child, a daughter named Snow, in January.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly