SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – Shreveport native and RuPaul’s Drag Race star Chi Chi DeVayne has passed away, reportedly after a brief battle with pneumonia.
Zavion Davenport lived with scleroderma, a condition that results in hardened tight skin in areas and affects internal organs and blood vessels. He was hospitalized in July with high blood pressure and suspected kidney failure. Over the weekend, he let fans know he was hospitalized with pneumonia.
On Friday, the show confirmed his death and shared tributes from DeVane’s Drag Race family.
“We’re heartbroken to learn that Chi Chi DeVayne passed away today after a brief battle with pneumonia, just weeks after she was admitted to the hospital with suspected kidney failure.”
Davenport was born in Shreveport and went to Fair Park High School. In an April 2020 interview, he told the Lynn Vance Show he “grew up in a neighborhood full of Bloods” and thought he wanted to live the gang life.
“I was just going down the wrong path, I was like, two seconds away from being sent to a boot camp,” he said. He credits his mother with keeping him on the right path.
Davenport said he did not start doing drag until he was 25 years old. He went on to create the Chi Chi DeVayne character and appeared on RuPaul’s drag race in 2016 and again as an All Star in 2018.
Davenport was 34. Funeral arrangements are pending.