Lynette “Diamond” Hardaway, one half of conservative duo “Diamond and Silk,” died of heart disease caused by chronic high blood pressure, according to a death certificate obtained by the Associated Press.
Hardaway passed away at her home in North Carolina on Jan. 8. She was 51 years old.
AP was given the death certificate by the county register. It was signed by a local doctor and no autopsy was performed.
Former President Donald Trump announced Hardaway’s death on his Truth Social platform, and said her death was “totally unexpected.” He told his followers “probably her big and precious heart just plain gave out.”
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Following her death, there was widespread speculation on social media that Diamond — a staunch anti-vaxxer — died from COVID-19. Her family denied the reports.
But her sister Rochelle “Silk” Richardson, the other half of Diamond and Silk, began spreading false claims about Hardaway’s death. Silk said in the eulogy at Diamond’s memorial service that her sister was either murdered or a victim of “vaccine shedding” — an unproven claim that vaccinated people can “shed” proteins and infect others with the vaccine, potentially as a depopulation plot.
Several media outlets quoted Silk as saying in the eulogy at Diamond’s memorial service: “Many call it a conspiracy theory. I call it murder.”
“In the wild, when they want to depopulate and sterilize a large group of animals, they usually inject one animal, and then that one animal infects the rest of the animals,” Silk reportedly said.
Diamond was previously hospitalized in November with serious medical problems. A Nov. 26 post on the duo’s Facebook page asked their followers to “please pray for Diamond.” The post didn’t disclose what was wrong.
The sister-duo campaigned with Trump during his 2016 presidential run and became fixtures on Fox News.
But in 2020, the network parted ways with the two as they faced criticism for saying the coronavirus was man-made and for spreading misinformation about the COVID vaccine.
After leaving their roles as Fox News contributors, the two joined far-right network Newsmax.
Before finding fame as conservatives, Diamond and Silk were registered Democrats, according to published accounts.
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