Popular model and actress Rista Laboni Shimana passed away on Tuesday morning due to a brain haemorrhage at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University.

She was 39.

Her brother, Ejaz Bin Ali, and her ex-husband, singer Parvez Sazzad, confirmed the matter.

Shimana breathed her last at about 6:00am on Tuesday. Earleir, she was admitted to a hospital on May 21 after suffering a brain stroke and having been unconscious for the past 14 days. She went through several complications and was put on life support.

According to her family, Shimana fell ill all of a sudden on the night of May 21 and was rushed to a private hospital in Dhaka’s Dhanmondi. Later, she was shifted to another hospital in Dhanmondi for better treatment the following day.

The actress was then admitted to the National Institute of Neurosciences and Hospital in the capital’s Agargaon, where she underwent brain surgery on May 25. Due to her deteriorating health, she was then moved to BSMMU, where she was put on life support last Wednesday.

Rista Laboni Shimana entered the country’s entertainment arena in 2006 with the star-studded Lux-Channel i Superstar competition, which launched the careers of several popular actresses, including the winner of that season, Zakia Bari Momo, runners-up Afsana Ara Bindu and Azmeri Haque Badhon, and others.

She appeared in Tauquir Ahmed’s film Daruchini Dwip, which also featured her other contestants from that competition, and gained critical acclaim for her acting.

Since then, Shimana has been a regular in television dramas and series, commercials, and films.

After getting married to the popular singer Parvez Sazzad in 2014, Shimana took a hiatus from the industry for a while in 2016 due to her motherhood. The couple eventually got divorced later, Shimana got married for the second time in 2019, and the actress returned to the industry last year.