# Trigger Warning: Zombie Boy



## Crackers Phinn (Aug 3, 2018)

Zombie Boy aka Rick Genest the 32 year old model who tattooed himself to look like a skeleton committed suicide on August 1st. I heard about this because Lady Gaga has made a call for people to take mental health seriously.  



I don't want to be insensitive but at what point are people going to admit that someone who does this to their body has blatantly obvious mental health issues?  Well adjusted people just don't go around tattooing themselves to look like corpses.  

He was able to make money with this look but I imagine there had to be days that he looked in the mirror and asked what he did to himself.   

There's so many times when I hear or read people say "what is that person going to do with xyz body augmentation" when they are old and my thought is a lot of the extremists aren't planning on getting old.

Just thinking out e-loud.


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## Crackers Phinn (Aug 3, 2018)

*Zombie Boy Rick Genest, Lady Gaga and Nicola Formichetti Muse, Has Died*

Rick Genest, 32-year-old fashion muse and self-proclaimed “sideshow performer,” has died from an apparent suicide. He was recognizable for his head-to-toe tattoos, especially the one on his face that made him look like a skeleton. Genest started out in his home country of Canada, eventually starring in his own circus show called _Lucifer’s Blasphemous Mad Macabre Torture Carnival_, and was widely known as Zombie Boy and Rico the Zombie.

He first came into the fashion world’s consciousness when he was scouted via social media by Nicola Formichetti around 2010. The designer tapped Genest to star in a Mugler campaign the following year and cast him in the menswear show. Lady Gaga also hired Genest to appear in her music video for “Born This Way.” Yesterday the singer shared a heartwarming tribute to her dear friend and collaborator, writing on Twitter: “The suicide of friend Rick Genest, Zombie Boy, is beyond devastating.” She went on to implore her followers to discuss mental health openly and honestly and to reach out to a friend or family member if they are suffering and in need of help.

Likewise, Formichetti expressed his sadness via Twitter. “Absolutely heartbroken,” he wrote. “Rest in Power, Zombie Boy. Sending all my condolences and love to Rico’s family and friends.” Formichetti also shared the number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Genest’s death comes on the heels of Kate Spade’s and Anthony Bourdain’s suicides and raises more questions about the state of mental health not only in this country. As Lady Gaga wrote: “We have to work harder to change the culture, bring mental health to the forefront, and erase the stigma that we can’t talk about it.”

_If you are having thoughts of suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1.800.273.8255 or visit Speakingofsuicide.com/resources for additional resources._


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## RossBoss (Aug 3, 2018)

Crackers Phinn said:


> Zombie Boy aka Rick Genest the 32 year old model who tattooed himself to look like a skeleton committed suicide on August 1st. I heard about this because Lady Gaga has made a call for people to take mental health seriously.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



The problem is that people who belong to "that community" would never allow you to label them as mentally ill because you'll be called some type of fill in the blank-phobe.  Tattos are okay in general but I feel that he tattoed  himself like that to cope with some type of childhood trauma...mainly sexual abuse...if you know what I mean.


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## nysister (Aug 3, 2018)

Well of course he did. He was screaming for help. Shame.


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## discodumpling (Aug 5, 2018)

If you call death to you it will come. If you invite him into your life he will come in and make himself comfortable.


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## Goombay_Summer (Aug 5, 2018)

I wonder if his intricate skeleton tattoo constitutes an extreme form of body dysmorphia. Was Zoombie boy obsessed with the Mexican Dia de Muertos and the macabre in general. He would have been an excellent extra cast member for Disney's Coco and the Walking Dead franchises.


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## Chicoro (Aug 5, 2018)

Crackers Phinn said:


> Zombie Boy aka Rick Genest the 32 year old model who tattooed himself to look like a skeleton committed suicide on August 1st. I heard about this because Lady Gaga has made a call for people to take mental health seriously. [...]
> 
> *I don't want to be insensitive but at what point are people going to admit that someone who does this to their body has blatantly obvious mental health issues?  Well adjusted people just don't go around tattooing themselves to look like corpses. [...]*
> 
> ...









You've pointed out the obvious. You are the child who pointed and said, "The emperor is naked!" I don't think your comment was insensitive at all.


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## ThirdEyeBeauty (Aug 6, 2018)

^^^It the same for people with gender identity problems.  We live in such a politically correct society that we are afraid to say they are mentally ill.


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