Chyna is a former professional wrestler who was found dead last Wednesday in her Redondo Beach apartment in California. Authorities are still investigating the cause of her death. While her former manager has requested her family permission to donate her brain for research on brain injury trauma.
Her former manager, Anthony Anzaldo, told PEOPLE that Chyna was taking sleep medication and anti-anxiety pills at the time of her death. The former WWE legend died at age 45 in her apartment in Redondo Beach where she was found after missing for three days.
"I went over there is because she was unresponsive for three days," said Anzaldo. "She wasn't responding to any calls or anything so the last communication was Sunday, they think she died on Monday I found her on Wednesday."
Chyna, whose real name was Joanie Marie Laurer, was taking a prescribed medication for sleep and anxiety. Anzaldo said that her dependence of those drugs become more intense for the past few weeks as she struggled with emotional issues. The struggle arose as she was filming a documentary.
"She had been a little emotionally strained. She was really confronting some demons and she may have been taking a little bit more than normal," Anzaldo explained further. "Every couple of days she'd be a little bit off of her game, a little loopy, like maybe she had taken too much but she was still coherent."
Meanwhile, Redondo Beach police Sgt. Shawn Freeman said in a news release on Thursday that the police officer arrived on the scene and found the body at the location. Police also said they found no indications of foul play as the cause of death,
The Hollywood Gossip reported that authorities are still investigating the cause of her death, and the result of autopsy and toxicology report will not be released until next week. Although possible overdose was described in the police report, the report noted that authorities have yet to determine whether the cause of death was natural or accidental.
Following her death, Anthony Anzaldo told New York Daily News that he requested permission from the family to donate her brain for research on CTE (Chronic traumatic encephalopathy), a progressive generative disease caused by severe blow to the head.
Anzaldo also said that long before Chyna's death, lawyers had contacted her to join a brain injury lawsuit against the WWE. When she died, the lawyers contacted Anzaldo to donate her brain. He expected her family will approve, "My hope is that we can do it. I'm in the process of getting the permission to speak on behalf of family to tell the coroner it's okay to release it."
