Memorial service to be held in Redondo Beach for wrestling star Chyna
A memorial service will be held next week for pioneering wrestling star Joan Marie Laurer, who went by the stage name Chyna, according to her manager.
The memorial will be held June 22 at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center, where family, friends and celebrities will honor Chyna’s life. Video tributes and performances by rappers Coolio and Baby Bash are also planned.
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FOR THE RECORD
11:28 a.m.: A previous version of this story said the memorial would be held Tuesday. It will be held June 22.
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About 1,000 fans will be chosen randomly to attend the service and can register at wrestling star’s website.
Chyna, 46, was found dead in her Redondo Beach home in April, about three days after she posted a bizarre 13-minute video on YouTube.
Redondo Beach police said officers found Chyna dead on her bed after receiving a call from her friend about a woman not breathing. The friend said Chyna had not answered her phone in a few days, according to the department.
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Initially, police reported the death as a possible overdose or natural death. Anthony Anzaldo, the manager for Chyna who discovered her body, told the L.A. Times that she may have died from an accidental overdose of the sleeping pill Ambien and a form of the tranquilizer Valium.
The Los Angeles County coroner’s office postponed a ruling on the cause of death, saying it will be months before toxicology test results can determine whether she died of an overdose.
Chyna, a native of Rochester, N.Y., became a wrestling star in World Wrestling Entertainment and billed herself as the “9th Wonder of the World†because her wrestling predecessor Andre the Giant had already called himself the eighth. She was a founding member of wrestling squad “D-Generation X.â€
After leaving WWE in 2001, she posed for Playboy and appeared in adult films and reality TV shows such as “The Surreal Life†and “Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew.â€
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