Former Miss Teen Universe Lotte Van Der Zee, 20, dies following heart attack

By Mark Osborne

Former Miss Teen Universe Lotte van der Zee has died two weeks after suffering a sudden heart attack, her parents shared Thursday on the model's Instagram.

The 20-year-old from Holland died on Wednesday her parents said.

"Our pearl, our everything passed away on Wednesday evening March 6th at 22:47," her parents, Bert van der Zee and Eugeniek van der Zee van het Hul, shared. "It is incredibly surreal that our dearly beloved Lotte is not around us anymore. Our hearts are truly broken.

"We would like to thank you all again for all the support and heartwarming messages."

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Onze parel, ons alles is op woensdagavond 6 maart om 22:47 overleden. Het is super onwerkelijk dat onze lieve Lotte er niet meer is. Onze harten zijn gebroken?? Nogmaals willen we jullie allemaal bedanken voor alle steun en hartverwarmende berichten. ——————————————————————————- Our pearl, our everything passed away on Wednesday evening March 6th at 22:47. It is incredibly surreal that our dearly beloved Lotte is not around us anymore. Our hearts are truly broken?? We would like to thank you all again for all the support and heartwarming messages.

A post shared by LOTTE VAN DER ZEE (@lotte_zee) on Mar 7, 2019 at 2:09am PST

Lotte van der Zee was named Miss Teenager Universe in 2017.

Pageant organizers sent their condolences to family and friends, saying, "Losing someone we loved is not easy, but knowing that we have been able to be part of her life, it has been an amazing journey, we now realize that we were blessed to share your life and career with us."

Her parents first posted on Feb. 22 that van der Zee had gone into cardiac arrest while the family was on a ski vacation in Westendorf, Austria, celebrating her 20th birthday.

"She was helped to the nearest hospital where she got into a coma and is since then kept a sleep under intensive supervision of the doctors in order to monitor her health," her parents wrote on her Instagram page.

Van der Zee has 170,000 followers on Instagram and documented her life, traveling around the globe.

She was flown to a hospital in Munich last week, her parents said, but was still in a coma. She never regained consciousness before her death Wednesday.

"Even though the feeling of powerlessness made us think that we were in this alone at first we were able to draw a massive amount of strength from all your loving support," they wrote. "We are convinced that Lotte feels this too. Lotte's situation is unfortunately still unchanged. However, she has now been transferred to an academic hospital in Munich, where she is still kept a sleep under intensive supervision of the doctors in order to monitor her health."

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Lieve allemaal, “Als je verdriet met elkaar deelt kan je verdrietig en gelukkig tegelijk zijn.” Dit is iets dat jullie ons de afgelopen week hebben laten voelen. Daarom willen we jullie ontzettend bedanken voor alle mooie berichten en voor jullie oprechte en liefdevolle steun. Het is prachtig om te zien hoeveel mensen intens met Lotte en ons meeleven. Hoewel de machteloosheid ons in eerste instantie liet denken dat we er alleen voor stonden hebben we uit alle steunbetuigingen juist kracht weten te putten en we zijn ervan overtuigd dat Lotte dit ook zo voelt. Wij ervaren jullie steun als werkelijk hartverwarmend. Lotte’s situatie is helaas nog onveranderd. Wel is ze inmiddels overgebracht naar een universitair ziekenhuis in München, waar zij nog steeds in kritieke toestand onder intense supervisie van artsen in slaap wordt gehouden. We wilden dit graag persoonlijk met jullie delen en waarderen het respect voor onze privacy gedurende deze moeilijke tijd nog steeds enorm. Neem bij vragen alsjeblieft contact op met het management van Lotte. Liefs, Haar ouders – Bert van der Zee & Eugeniek van der Zee van het Hul Dear all, "If you share grief with each other you can be sad and happy at the same time." This is something that you have made us experience this past week. That is why we want to thank you for all the beautiful messages and for your sincere and loving support. It is wonderful to see how many people are intensely involved with Lotte and with us. Even though the feeling of powerlessness made us think that we were in this alone at first we were able to draw a massive amount of strength from all your loving support. We are convinced that Lotte feels this too. Lotte's situation is unfortunately still unchanged. However, she has now been transferred to an academic hospital in Munich, where she is still kept a sleep under intensive supervision of the doctors in order to monitor her health. We wanted to share this with you personally and appreciate the respect for our privacy during this difficult time. If you have any more questions, please contact Lotte's management. Love, Her parents - Bert van der Zee & Eugeniek van der Zee van het Hul

A post shared by LOTTE VAN DER ZEE (@lotte_zee) on Mar 1, 2019 at 10:11am PST