Kelsey Bateman, a former contestant on Rock of Love with Bret Michaels, has died at the age of 39.
At 21, Bateman competed on the third and final season of the 2000s reality show, which saw 23 women competing to be Poison frontman Michaels’s girlfriend.
On Sunday night, a family source confirmed to TMZ that Bateman had died “unexpectedly recently.” No cause of death was provided.
Bateman made it to the final nine women in her series before being eliminated. The singer and guitarist ultimately selected Taya Parker as his girlfriend in the finale, but their relationship was short-lived.
Michaels has been married to his wife, Kristi Michaels, since 2013. He has yet to comment on Bateman’s death.
Although Michaels was offered a fourth season, it was announced in May 2010 that he would instead star in a new series, Bret Michaels: Life as I Know It, which focused on his everyday life.
Bateman was eliminated from Rock of Love after admitting she got too “wasted” with fellow contestants Farrah Sinclair and Ashley Klarich.
“At some point I looked over during the concert and you were no longer there,” Michaels later told her.
“And at some point you were laying on a speed bump talking, saying you couldn’t handle this any longer. I think tonight the fact that you are are needing to be who you are not, the fact you need to drink this much?
“I think you're awesome and a beautiful girl and I said sometimes I have to make decisions for people, and my decision for you is that I'm going to let your tour end here.”
Bateman responded to her elimination: “Apparently, Brett just can’t handle a girl that likes to get drunk and lay on speed bumps. I mean, maybe he’s not used to it.
“I’m going to go home and I’m going to be single I’m not going to think about guys for a while but the next guy I find definitely won’t be 44 and probably not a rock star.”
