Lucy Markovic, a rising fashion figure who competed on “Australia’s Next Top Model,” has died at the age of 27 following a rare brain condition.
Elite Model Management announced her death on social media Thursday, confirming Markovic “passed away after a brave battle” with arteriovenous malformation (AVM) — a condition described by the Mayo Clinic as “a tangle of blood vessels that creates irregular connections between arteries and veins in the brain.”
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Lucy Markovic is pictured at runway shows in Australia in 2017. Markovic was runner up on ‘Australia’s Next Top Model’ in 2015. (Getty)
Hours before the announcement, Markovic’s official Instagram posted a message that she was “battling for her life.” Later in the day, another message from her loved ones confirmed the sad news.
“I regret to inform you that Lucy has passed,” wrote a family member. “She was at peace. Me, her mother and my mother were present with her. We ask you to please give us space in these hard times. May Lucy rest in peace.”
According to the Australia Broadcasting Corporation, Markovic wrote about her condition last month in a since-deleted social media post, describing the AVM as “the size of a golf ball.” She said she was scheduled to undergo surgery on March 26, but the date had been changed to April 2.
In 2015, Markovic finished as the runner-up in the ninth season of “Australia’s Next Top Model,” an international offshoot of Tyra Banks‘ wildly popular competition show.
Following “Top Model,” she strutted the catwalk for high-end designers such as Oscar de la Renta, Dolce & Gabbana, Versace and Givenchy.
In its online tribute on Thursday, Elite Models described Markovic as “a bright shining light [who] had an incredible dry sense of humor.”
“Modeling was one of Lucy’s dreams, and we are deeply honored to have been part of that journey with her,” they said. “She brought elegance, strength and beauty to her work. But more than that, she brought herself — her warmth, her laughter, her light.”
