Sahara Davenport, RIP: Five Other Reality Stars Who Died Young

Look back at late cast members of The Real World, Anna Nicole and House of Carter

By Joal Ryan Oct 03, 2012 1:10 PMTags
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Sahara Davenport was just 27.

Here's a look at other reality stars who, like RuPaul's Drag Race alum, died before the age of 30:

1. Joey Kovar: In August, the aspiring actor and fitness buff, whose battles with sobriety caused him to move out of The Real World: Hollywood, and later led him to Celebrity Rehab, was found dead in his native Chicago of a suspected overdose. He was 29.   

2. Leslie Carter: Her show-biz clan's reality series House of Carter was short-lived; her family's troubles were not. Leslie, a younger sister of pop stars Nick Carter and Aaron Carter, died this past winter of an overdose at her father's home in Buffalo, New York. She was 25.  

3. Frankie Abernathy: The flame-haired housemate from the 2004 iteration of The Real World: San Diego died in 2007 at age 25. She'd battled cystic fibrosis since she was a toddler. "Tomorrow is a privilege," Abernathy said on the show, "so live like tomorrow isn't happening."

4. Daniel Smith: In 2006, the likeable, low-key son of the larger-than-life Anna Nicole Smith, a reluctant costar on The Anna Nicole Show, passed away in the hospital room of his mother shortly after she gave birth to his half-sister. The younger Smith was 20. A lengthy investigation ruled the case an accidental overdose.  

5. Pedro Zamora: In 1994, the pioneering Real World: San Francisco cast member, who used the the show as a platform for his AIDS-education efforts, died of the disease hours after his season's final episode aired. He was 22.