Singer-songwriter Coco Lee sent a tragic final message to her fans thanking them for supporting her before her death on Wednesday.
The Hong Kong-born star died aged 48 after attempting to take her own life over the weekend after living with depression for several years, her older sisters Carol and Nancy Lee said in a statement posted on Facebook and Instagram. .
Lee was also recovering from major surgery to correct a birth defect that had plagued her for years, writing that she had struggled with “life-changing hurdles” before her death in her latest social media post.
In a separate audio message posted on Sunday by the verified Weibo account “China Wen Fan League,” Coco told her fans that they were her “pillar of strength” and that she “worked really hard.” She would try to take her own life hours later.
She was in a coma before she passed away on Wednesday.
Singer-songwriter Coco Lee (pictured in 2016) sent a tragic final message to her fans thanking them for supporting her before her death on Wednesday
In addition to suffering from depression, Coco Lee was also recovering from major surgery on her leg and pelvis to correct a birth defect, which she posted about on social media earlier this year.
‘Dear, I’m CoCo. I feel everyone’s love and support and you are my pillar of support,” she is heard saying in the audio message, which has been widely shared on social media, according to Taiwan News.
“I will keep striving. During this time I hope you are all healthy and happy too. I miss everyone very much. I work very hard. I’m thinking of you all. I miss you all so much! love you love you.’
Coco then switched to English and said, ‘Thank you so much for the gifts. Beautiful and very thoughtful. I love you.’
Fans commented that it sounds like her voice is breaking with emotion in the recording, and expressed their sadness that she would attempt suicide a few hours later, which would ultimately lead to her death on Wednesday.
In her last Instagram post in December, she said life over the past year had seemed “unbearable” at times, while her sisters said she struggled with depression.
She was also recovering from major surgery on her leg and pelvis to correct a birth defect, which she posted about on social media earlier this year.
The operation took two hours and she had to learn to walk again. Clips posted online showed her in a hospital bed and walking with a frame.
She suffered from the injury throughout her life, having surgery when she was just two years old did not fully resolve the problem. It left her more dependent on her right leg for support.
Her impressive stage performances masked the injury, but the problem worsened in October when she injured herself during a dance rehearsal. The sun reports.
This led to the major surgery performed in February.
The operation took two hours and she had to learn to walk again. Clips posted online showed her in a hospital bed and walking with a frame
Coco Lee is seen in a hospital bed shortly after surgery earlier this year
Coco revealed the extent of her health problems that month in a Facebook post.
‘I was born with a defect in my left leg. When I was learning to walk, my mom noticed something wasn’t right and sent me to the hospital for surgery when I was just two years old,” she wrote on Feb. 23.
“Unfortunately, the operation was unsuccessful. The doctor put a very thick metal bar through my left heel and I had to wear plaster at the time, which made it very uncomfortable. This was torture for me as a child because I couldn’t move at all.’
She continued, saying she’s “I’ve endured this pain for so many years and now it’s preventing me from living a normal life,” adding that surgery has left her facing “my biggest challenge and biggest fear in my entire life.” .
“I have never been afraid to face challenges because I would take everything one step at a time. But this time I feel vulnerable. I’ve always wanted to escape, but this time it’s inevitable,” she wrote.
“I will have to learn to walk again. I hope everyone will guide me through this difficult journey. I need you more than ever. You will always be in my heart and I will always love you. I am that great wall that will never fall!’
Coco Lee appears in a video about her recovery process and tells her fans, ‘Warrior baby! Female Warrior.’
Coco Lee learns to walk with a frame as she describes her recovery from surgery
Coco’s two sisters, Carol and Nancy Lee, announced her death on Facebook on Wednesday.
“Although Coco sought professional help and did her best to fight depression, unfortunately that demon in her got the better of her,” the statement said.
On July 2, she committed suicide at home and was sent to the hospital. Despite the efforts of the hospital team to rescue and treat her from her coma, she eventually died on July 5, 2023,” the statement said.
Lee’s career spanned about 30 years. Among her most notable performances were voicing the female warrior Mulan in the Mandarin-language version of Disney’s ‘Mulan’ and performing the Oscar-nominated song ‘A Love Before Time’ from the movie ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ .
Born in Hong Kong in 1975, she was the youngest of three children of a Hong Kong Cantonese mother and Malaysian father.
Lee was extremely popular in China and Taiwan, especially in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and her death caused an outpouring of grief in both wall-to-wall coverage in Taiwan.
One of the most read hashtags about her death generated 200 million reads on China’s Twitter-like Weibo microblogging site.
‘I will miss you forever. Miss your beautiful singing, your hearty smile and your beautiful smile,” one Chinese fan wrote.
Lee’s father died before she was born, and by the age of 9, her mother had moved Lee and her sisters to the United States, to San Francisco.
After graduating from high school in 1992, she was offered a recording contract in Hong Kong with Capital Artists, which eventually led her to leave her studies at the University of California, Irvine to focus on her music career.
Coco’s two sisters, Carol and Nancy Lee, announced her death on Facebook on Wednesday
Lee, who moved to the United States as a youngster and attended school there, had a successful career as a pop singer in Asia during the 1990s and 2000s (pictured in 2003)
In 1996, Lee signed with Sony Music Entertainment and her debut album ‘Coco Lee’ became the best-selling album of that year in Asia.
It didn’t take long for Lee to gain fans in both Asia and the United States, beginning her path to new collaborations and English-language songs.
She recorded 18 studio albums and appeared in three films, most notably Lee Xin’s “Master of Everything” and Stanley Kwan’s “No Tobacco”.
In 2011, Lee married Bruce Rockowitz, a Canadian businessman who is the former CEO of Hong Kong supply chain company Li & Fung. He survives her, as do her sisters and two stepdaughters.