Tragedy has once again struck the family of ballerina Michaela DePrince, who died suddenly last week. The family has shared that the adoptive mother of Michaela died a day after her daughter.
Elaine DePrince, of Cherry Hill, NJ., died on Wednesday, Sept. 11, following the death of Michaela the day before on Sept. 10, according to a Facebook post from family spokesperson Jessica Volinski.
“There has been a great deal of speculation online, so the family would like to officially set the record straight about a few things,” read the statement, which began with a thank you to the public for an outpouring of support.
“The last few days have been even more difficult than most people realize because the family has also been dealing with the death of Michaela’s adoptive mother Elaine DePrince,” Volinksi wrote.
She clarified that Michaela did not die on Sept. 13 as some outlets have reported and that Elaine died during “a routine procedure in preparation for a surgery.”
Elaine was not aware of her daughter’s death at the time of her own.
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“As unbelievable as it may seem, the two deaths were completely unrelated,” the statement continued. “The only way we can make sense of the senseless is that Elaine, who had already lost three children many years ago, was by the grace of God spared the pain of experiencing the loss of a fourth child.”
Michaela, who had been a trailblazing ballerina who took the dance world by storm in 2011 when she starred in the documentary “First Position,” grew up an orphan in her native Sierra Leone. She and her sister Mia were adopted by Elaine and her husband Charles and relocated to New Jersey. Many fans around the world followed her journey and rise in the field of dance as she went on to join the Boston Ballet and release a memoir and a children’s book. She was 29 at the time of her death.
“What the family is going through right now is truly unimaginably painful,” the latest statement from Volinski noted, adding, “Grieving two family members who died within a 24 hour period is tragic and devastating. We continue to ask for privacy.”
