Chinese influencer Zhu Mingyue dead at 41 following cancer battle

Chinese influencer Zhu Mingyue died last Thursday at the age of 41 following a long-running cancer battle.

The tragic news was revealed on Mingyue's account on Douyin, a Chinese version of TikTok, on Monday.

Mingyue, who was also known as Mi Duo, died suddenly after 'failing to respond to medical treatment,' the statement on her social media read, the Chinese news site Sina reported.

Mingyue, who has more than 100,000 Douyin followers, had opened up about receiving a breast cancer diagnosis in late 2024, the site reported.

A native of Harbin, China, Mingyue in 2002 graduated from Harbin Normal University en route to successful endeavors in business and social media. She is survived by a husband and three children.

Mingyue's daughter said of her late mother, 'For the past year and a half, she had been repeatedly tormented by illness, enduring unimaginable physical pain yet she remained optimistic and strong.'

The influencer remained strong in spirit into her final days, her daughter said.

'A few days before she passed away,' her daughter said, Mingyue was 'already blind and slurring her speech' but still remained selfless in hopes of comforting her.

Her daughter said, 'She still held my hand and comforted me, "Don’t cry, baby. This is a tough time, but Mommy will be better in a few days."'

Mingyue 'spent her whole life worrying about others, caring for everyone around her, but neglecting herself,' her daughter said in her obit.

Mingyue's daughter opened up on the brave way her mother battled the deadly ailment.

'My mother was strong-willed her whole life and never bowed to illness,' Mingyue's daughter said. 'During chemotherapy and radiotherapy, she underwent frequent blood draws until her veins were almost impossible to puncture.'

Despite the personal pain, Mingyue 'gritted her teeth and [persevered], never considering giving up.'

She added, 'As her daughter, my heart was filled with heartache and resentment; I couldn’t bear to see her suffer, yet I longed for the time I had with her. She once said, "As long as I have a breath left, we three children will still have our mother."'

The tragic news about Mingyue comes in the wake of a number of other premature deaths of social media influencers in March.

Colombian influencer Carolina Reyes, known as 'Carol the Warrior,' died March 11 at 23 following a battle with cancer. 

Brazilian influencer Karla Thaynnara died at just 25 in a March 3 motorcycle crash in Brasília. Compounding an already tragic situation was the suicide of her father José Carlos Andrade Nogueira after learning the news.

Another influencer from Brazil, Larissa da Silva Machado, tragically died at the age of 30 on March 27 in a motorbike crash after officials said she lost control of the Honda CG 160 Titan motorbike she was riding in Manaus, Brazil. 

Prior to March, Taiwan-based influencer Wang Wei-Chien died at the age of 29, five years after she was diagnosed with lymphoma.