A pre existing health issue? No indication in this article.
I see in her bio she stood 5’10” and weighed 120 lbs.
With the ‘lifestyle’ she led (or that her parents chose for her), that would include forms of bulimia, starvation, purging at every opportunity, and a team of enablers demanding she stay razor thin or else, is what likely shortened her life. Van Der Zee was blessed with remarkable beauty no question, the price to remain a beauty ‘champion’ was too high.
That is a huge reach
The teen pageant systems recognize these problems and do not select them for top honors
I have read that the ideal weight for a girl 5’ tall is 100 pounds. Then you should add 5 pounds for every inch over.
At that rate she was about 20 pounds too skinny.
Skeletal development isn’t complete yet at age 20. At that age, I was a reed. I’m now middle-aged and at 5’6” 120lb, I’m fully grown and normal. But when I was 20, people made obnoxious comments all the time. It was the era of Kate Moss, and people wrote across posters of her, “Feed me.” Some people are naturally thin and stay petite all of their lives. Why other people have a need to harass such people is beyond me.