Sahara Ray’s mom ‘wearing Sahara’s clothes and sobbing’ after model’s death
Sahara Ray’s mom ‘wearing Sahara’s clothes and sobbing’ after model’s death
Kathleen PerriconeWed, October 21, 2026 at 10:40 PM UTC
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Sahara Ray with her mother Gretchen Gia Bach in 2025Credit: Sahara Ray/InstagramKey Points -
Sahara Ray’s mom reveals she’s been “wearing Sahara’s clothes and sobbing” after model’s death at 34.
Gretchen Gia Bach posted a series of Instagram Stories remembering her eldest daughter and her legacy.
Ray died on Oct. 18, less than a year after giving birth to her own daughter, Snow, in January.
Sahara Ray’s mother is finding solace in the memories of her daughter as she grieves her unexpected loss.
Gretchen Gia Bach posted a series of Instagram Stories remembering the 34-year-old model who died on Oct. 18 “surrounded by family at the hospital.” In one photo, showing Bach dressed in baggy jeans and lying on a bed, she wrote that it was 1 a.m. and she was “wearing Sahara’s clothes and sobbing” as she read “the love letters and tributes to my first born daughter.”
Bach, who also has two younger daughters, shared several posts from photographer Molly Lou reflecting on her time working with the Australian model and swimwear designer.
Gretchen Gia Bach’s Instagram Story about grieving her daughter Sahara RayCredit: Gretchen Gia Bach/Instagram
Lou recalled how she helped her friend launch Sahara Ray Swim and managed the shipping, customer service, and social media marketing.
In addition to all the celebrities “wanting to wear her suits,” Lou said she was most impressed by the response from fans — “Girls who just loved Sahara and we’re so excited to support her.”
The designer’s DMs were “flooded” with messages from young women also inspired to be creative, even if that was “to put glitter on their faces and feel allowed to be sexy and cool like Sahara,” added Lou.
Bach also reshared a post asking friends to send “photos, stories, and letters” about Sahara that the family can share with her 9-month-old daughter Snow “so she can get to know her mom one day.”
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The heartbroken mother revealed some of her own fond memories of “a girl who absolutely blew me away,” she wrote beside a photo of Sahara swimming. “Her positivity, energy, passion, spunk, and lust for life was magnetic... She will be sorely missed. Until we meet again, Sahara, I know you’re somewhere.”
Gretchen Gia Bach reflects on daughter Sahara Ray in an Instagram StoryCredit: Gretchen Gia Bach/Instagram
An hour later, Bach returned to Instagram to share a snapshot of her daughter with a cat. “I still can’t quite believe you’re gone,” she wrote over the photo. “There really was no one quite like you, Sahara.
Ruby Ray also paid tribute to “my beautiful big sister” on social media. She remembered Sahara as “the most vivacious, intelligent, hilarious, kind, empathetic and breathtakingly beautiful soul. A force of nature. A light so bright that this world feels impossibly dimmer without her in it.”
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“From the moment I entered this world, I looked up to her,” continued Ruby, also the daughter of surfing legend Tony Ray. “In my eyes, she was everything extraordinary about being human. She was magic, she was warmth, she was laughter, she was love. She was, to me, the most incredible person to ever walk this earth.”
A cause of death has not yet been determined.
In 2024, Sahara opened up about her battle with Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that left her partially paralyzed and unable to walk following a serious car accident with an alleged drunk driver.
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
