Update!

The X Factor's Thomas Wells Dead at 46 After Horrifying Accident

Thomas Wells, who appeared on The X Factor and The Winner Is died on Nov. 13 following a freak accident at the tire manufacturing plant he worked at, according to wife Jessica.

By Beth Sobol, Jamie Blynn Nov 27, 2021 7:22 PMTags
Watch: In Memoriam: Fallen Stars of 2022

UPDATE: Jessica Wells spoke to E! News about the loss of her husband and former X-Factor star Thomas Wells, praising him as a "awesome, unique person" and calling him her best friend. Read her comments below.

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The world has lost a rising talent.

Thomas Wells, who competed on The X Factor among other reality shows, died on November 13, his wife Jessica Wells wrote on Facebook. He was 46.

"It was a work-related accident," Jessica told E! News on Saturday, Nov. 27. "It caused him to have no oxygen in his brain, which caused his body to kind of fail."

In a Facebook video filmed at Thomas' gravesite, Jessica said, "I feel like it's not real but I know it is. He was my best friend."

Jessica told TMZ that Thomas died following an accident at the tire manufacturing plant he worked at in Oklahoma. The outlet said that part of his body got caught in an automatic conveyer belt and he was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital before being airlifted to another in Tyler, Texas.

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Celebrity Deaths: 2021's Fallen Stars

"He was deteriorating really fast," Jessica said in her Facebook video. "The lack of oxygen in his brain was causing his body to shut down and his organs and everything was just not working right. And there was something wrong with his stomach and it kind of had this smell. It's hard to explain. It wasn't like overwhelming, but you could tell something was happening. His blood pressure was dropping really fast."

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As she sat at his bedside with family, she played his song "I Can Only Imagine" while "praying for a miracle for him to just survive it," Jessica said. "I was just praying to God, 'Please save my husband.'"

High school sweethearts, Thomas and Jessica met in 2003 and married the following year, according to his obituary. He competed on The X Factor in 2011 and, two years later, appeared on The Winner Is.

"He was a Christian so I know that he would want to his music to go on," Jessica told E! News. "I want to focus on his music, his love of family and God. He loved America. He was a true patriot. I mean, he, he was just an awesome, unique person. And, you know, he was my best friend, my first boyfriend ever...We've been together for 17 years and I think the only time we were ever apart was when he went to do The X Factor." 

Jessica also said Thomas "loved to make people laugh and he was always cutting up." She also praised her husband for "his love for his family and his dogs."

"We have three puppies," she said. "We didn't have any kids, but those were our kids. I'm trying to reach out to local pet shelters. I haven't been able to contact anybody, but before Christmas I want to do an adopt-a-dog in remembrance of Thomas, because he loved dogs. He wanted every dog to have a home."

Jessica also said she is "doing better" following his death, adding, "I know he's in heaven with our Lord so I know where he's at. And I'm so at peace with that. I'm just trying to, you know, just take it day by day and just remember that I will see him again."

(This story was originally published on Friday, Nov. 26 at 4:57 p.m. PT)

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