47 ronin rick genest at what minute. Who was Zombie Boy? From Montreal tramp to Lady Gaga's celebrity friend. What is known about the death of Zombie Boy

This morning it was revealed that the 32-year-old actor, model and Guinness World Record holder for the most Zombie Boy tattoos at his home in Canada. They say the reason is prolonged depression. Friend Genest (32) on Twitter: “The suicide of my friend Rick Genest, Zombie Boy, has devastated me. We must work to change the culture to bring mental health to the forefront and erase the boundaries we cannot talk about. If you are suffering, call a friend or family. We must save each other. Reach out if you’re hurting, and if you know someone who’s hurting, reach out to them.”

Two years ago, we met Rick Genest at the Intercontinental Hotel in Moscow when he was here for filming, and talked with him while he tasted Russian vodka. We remember our interview and offer our condolences to family and friends.

When you see him on the screen, you get goosebumps. But in life everything is much simpler. Zombie Boy's name is simply Rick Genest. After five minutes of communication, you really see an ordinary 30-year-old guy in front of you and forget that 95% of his skin is covered with tattoos, and he himself, for a second, is a “living corpse.” Rick spoke to PEOPLETALK about the large-scale project he is working on with musician Mayro, his collaboration with Lady Gaga, and his tattoos.

The first portion of fame came to him on the day when Nicola Formichetti (40) saw his photo on the Internet. creative director Lady Gaga and the Mugler brand. I was sure: on that day Genest’s life completely changed. But he thinks differently: “My life has changed so many times that I can’t even count them. So I didn’t experience much of a shock.”

And then there was L'Oreal. Rick starred in an advertising campaign for a new foundation. It’s easy to guess what the gist of the video was: all of Zombie Boy’s tattoos were hidden under a layer of makeup. “For me it was, of course, unusual. I never regretted having done so many tattoos, so that project became nothing more than an experiment for me. When I saw myself “naked,” I didn’t feel any nostalgia.”

15 years ago, Rick survived a terrible disease - brain cancer. “That was half a lifetime ago. Perhaps the decision to cover your body with tattoos was related to that difficult period. Life is one big tree, where each branch is connected to the other. It’s kind of a butterfly effect,” Rick reflects.

“My first tattoo is a large skull on my left arm,” he says and tries to find it among the huge number of other designs. – I was 16 years old. Now you’ll ask why I stuffed it, right?” – Genest laughs. “Of course!” - I answer. “My little sister made her own skull, and I liked it so much that I decided to make one just like it.”

As a child, he was a real rebel: he ran away from home and quarreled with his family. “My parents’ reaction to what I did to myself was something like this: “Get out of our house!” Yes, I certainly wouldn’t want to be in their place.”

I have always wondered how difficult it is to go against the rules, but at the same time enjoy enormous popularity among ordinary, undistinguished people. “It depends on the person himself. For example, I exchange energy with my fans. If you give positive emotions, then you receive them in return. Respect and love are a kind of boomerang.”

At this moment, two fans approach him with an insistent request to take a photo. He is very tired after many hours of filming, but he cannot refuse them and makes faces at the girls’ cameras. And then he returns to our table again. “Is there a place on your body that is not covered with tattoos?” - I ask. Rick jokes: “I think we should have a drink together first. I'll tell you later".

Among his favorite places in Moscow is the Museum of the History of Corporal Punishment. Not that I was very surprised by this, but it’s difficult to call the torture museum a landmark of the city. “This is the coolest museum I've ever been to! I really want to go back there again. As for the people, they are incredibly friendly. Your people know how to have fun! We went to clubs and everyone kept asking to take pictures with us.”

I ask the most interesting question, the answer to which we all wanted to know: “What photo do you have in your passport?” “If I were in the photo without tattoos,” Rick laughs, “I wouldn’t be talking to you here and now. Passport control simply wouldn’t let me through.”

"Even since high school I dreamed of having my own musical group and now, it seems, I have finally realized my dream. We are working with musician Mayro on a big project.” I must say that the project is really large-scale. Miro is a finalist of the “Voice” show in Armenia, who captivated the jury with his unusual performance of songs by Michael Jackson and Jamiroquai. He moved to Moscow to work here.

“Miro wants to show the domestic public that a Russian musician can make really cool music. Now he is filming his first video clip in which I play. We have assembled a real dream team that is painstakingly working on this project.”

The director of the video is Django, a close friend of Mayro. The camera crew are the authors of the picture of the acclaimed Russian-American film “Hardcore”. The most expensive and famous photo artist Aslan Akhmadov was involved in the project. The sound producer is Roman Bestseller, he works with Ivan Dorn (29). The producer of the video once worked with Ennio Morricone (89) and Emir Kusturica (63), his name is Arthur Shachnev. He, in fact, assembled this entire amazing team. In general, the clip promises to be very cool.

He drove some people crazy, others were disgusted by his creepy body art, but it's an undeniable fact that this guy made himself a star with his 178 tattoos of bones, flesh and insects.

On August 3, model, performer and musician Rick Genest passed away by suicide. About it reported his friend Lady Gaga wrote on Twitter, calling on everyone who suffers from mental disorders not to remain silent about their ailments and to seek support from loved ones.

Zombie Boy did not live a few days before his 33rd birthday, which was supposed to be celebrated on August 7. We have collected several facts from the biography of Rick Genest that prove that being famous is not as easy as it might seem at first glance.

Rick Genest was born in 1985 in Montreal in French Canada. Rick began covering his body with pictures as a child, using simple ballpoint pens and chewing gum.

At 15, Rick was diagnosed with a brain tumor. And although it was quickly and successfully removed, according to the guy, it was from then on that he began to become interested in the topic of death.

Genest started getting tattoos at the age of 16. His parents did not approve of the guy's hobby, and after graduating from school he left home. Rick wanted to live a bohemian life, so he started hanging out at parties and sleeping on the streets or on rooftops.

People think they are insulting me by calling me a freak. But, in fact, I always wanted to be one (Daily Mirror).

Rick worked part-time as a car window cleaner and spent almost all the money he managed to earn on tattoos. At the age of 21, Genest entrusted his body to a master from his native Montreal, Frank Lewis, who combined all of Genest’s tattoos into a single composition - making a tattoo suit from Genest’s drawings.

According to Zombie Boy himself, he wanted to demonstrate on his body “the art of decomposition of the human body” and thus pay tribute to the horror films that he loved.

in 2008, Rick was contacted by the alternative British magazine Bizzare, which invited him to appear in a photo shoot. It was there that the name Zombie Boy, which Rick was given by his friends in his youth, was publicly announced for the first time.

Rick's path to big show business was helped by designer Nicola Formichetti, who found Zombie Boy through Facebook, where at that time he already had 20 thousand followers.

First, Formichetti invited Genest to Paris to work as a model, and then introduced him to Lady Gaga. After appearing in her “Born This Way” video, Zombie Boy gained worldwide fame. Later, a series of Monster High dolls were created based on the images of Genest and Lady Gaga in this video.

Zombie Boy and Nicola Formichetti

After this collaboration, Rick continued to appear in videos and collaborate with global brands such as L’Oréal, wrote music with Rob Zombie’s guitarist Mike Riggs, and performed DJ sets in clubs. Genest also played a cameo role in the film “47 Ronin” with Keanu Reeves, gave a lecture at TED Talks, devoting his talk to the concept of “normality” in modern society, and a bronze sculpture created in his image will greet visitors to the Science Museum in London, which opens in autumn 2019.

















Zombie Boy is a strange character with an unclear history and principles in life. He was included in the Guinness Book of Records as the person with the largest number of insects tattooed on his body. In addition, the guy’s body is covered with tattoos that fully correspond to the human skeleton. What led the guy to such a shocking image and how does the world community react to zombie boy? Let's figure it out.

Childhood years of zombie fighting

Rick Genest, and this is the name the zombie boy had from birth, was born a cute little boy in Chateauguay, Quebec in 1985. He was the eldest child in a family of hard workers. He lived like all other children, no different from his peers. Little Rick zombie boy Genest was not noticed in anything discrediting the honor of the family. A turning point in his life occurred at school age.

Reason for changes in appearance

Rick Genest underwent major surgery to remove a tumor in his brain while still in school. The parents no longer hoped to see the child alive, as the situation remained critical for a long time. It was at that moment between life and death that Rick Genest reconsidered his attitude towards the latter. He became, in his words, “dependent on death.” Apparently, the doctors removed not only the tumor, but also part of the gray matter, because instead of being grateful to God for the miraculous healing and enjoying every day he lived, the zombie boy began to play and joke with death. He regularly runs to tattoo parlors to turn into a zombie.

Zombie fight tattoos

  • "Proof of writing for zombie boy." Skull with crossbones. A picture of a skull became the first on the list of his tattoos. It shows off on the shoulder. Rick zombie boy Genest made it at the age of 16, when he collected his first $4,000. Before this, the guy was afraid of anger from his parents. After he posted many photos of the cemetery online, he was, oddly enough, noticed by Nicole Fortmicetti, creative director of the fashion brand Mugler. This is where things started to get more fun for the zombie fight.
  • Head. Based on Rick's head and face, one can safely study the anatomy of the skull structure. The nose is completely painted black to give the effect of its absence. Black holes gape in the eyes and eyelids. The tattooed brain is divided by a similar groove to give the effect of an open skull. By the way, apparently, according to the plan, Rick Genest should have a great smell, because maggots and beetles with fleshy larvae nest in the drawn brain. The mouth looks the most terrifying young man. After all, bare jaws have been knocked out right up to the ears. Blood vessels are intertwined with the jaw bones, and there are maggots and cobwebs in the ears.

  • Neck. Stuffed cervical vertebrae envelops a network of blood vessels. Beetles and spiders roam peacefully among them. Connective tissues are torn, giving the appearance of rotting meat. Some kind of cuttlefish or centipede runs recklessly from the neck to the ear. Apparently, she had very important matters going on in his ear.

  • Breast. The biohazard sign occupies the main place on the chest. Rick Genest's tattoos fully convey subcutaneous contents human body. Ribs, spine, fetid, rotting intestines - everything is present with light hand tattoo artist on a guy's body. When asked if he would like to leave his body to a museum after death, zombie boy said that he had not thought about it, and that, most likely, his tissues would simply be devoured by worms in the coffin. Zombie battle tattoos, in his own words, will not stop the voracious reptiles.

  • Hands. Among the tattooed webs, bones and muscles, live his favorite beetles and insect larvae. On right hand there are pictures of cemeteries and crosses. Rick Genest has a very simple and easy approach to death. Zombie Boy is convinced that he will die young and will not live to see 75. Perhaps it is for this reason that the zombie fight tattooed Death's Grim Reaper on the same right hand. And on the left is the inscription “zombie”.

  • Back. The spine, ribs and shoulder blade bones are impaled on the back. These are not vanilla butterflies and flowers. Rick Genest's tattoos extend from the back to the head in the form of exposed vertebrae. Naturally, everything is covered in cobwebs and putrid remains of meat. Spider beetles, included in the Guinness Book of Records, run along them, as if belching and eating all the undigested remains of his body.

  • Taz. Among pelvic bones on Rick's butt, tattooed... pirozhenko. Among the whole gloomy picture, it looks like “a saddle on a cow.” The tattoo stands out from the overall picture. Rick zombie boy Genest himself happily lowers his pants, showing off this latest picture on the loin. Perhaps his maggots were drawn to sweets. Or he himself associates his own ass with a sweet dessert. The reason for the appearance of the pie on zombie boy's butt is not clear.

  • Legs. Up to the fingertips, tattoos of a rotting body cover the legs that zombie boy walks around tattoo parlors. Rick Genest himself only goes to prestigious salons, as he cares about the sterility of the premises and tools.

  • Future plans. Photos of zombie combat amaze the imagination of the most ardent horror movie fan. But Zombie Boy himself is more worried that his maggots in his ears do not look entirely authentic. He says he still has plans to improve his appearance. According to Rick, after each new tattoo, parents send the famous three-letter zombie and kick him out of the house.

Social activities zombie boy

Before his tattoos, Rick Genest was an uninteresting American teenager. Now photos of zombie battles adorn the glossy pages of fashion magazines. For a zombie boy, it doesn’t matter that he looks in such a way that people with weak nerves feel the urge to vomit. In his 26 years, Rick Genest has already starred in a Lady Gaga video, works as a model, maintains a personal blog and acts as a prototype for creating children's dolls.

Zombie Boy has experience in DJing and acting, although people would rather watch him than listen to his music and evaluate his acting.

Personal life of Zombie Boy

Rick Genest often abuses alcohol, smokes and leads a nocturnal lifestyle. Zombie boy was saved from the fate of a quiet drunk only by his fame in the world because of his tattoos.

It was rumored that Rick Genest, known as Zombie Boy, had gotten married. Photos of Rick Genest recently appeared online, showing the guy and his wife posing for a photo shoot. You have become the chosen one for zombies, now you will be surprised... . Bisexual model from Croatia. Whether the young couple is truly united by love and marriage, or this is just another PR stunt on the part of an expressive man, time will tell.

Rick Genest is one of those people who thinks that if you have to try everything in life, then “everything” is necessarily the worst. For all the transformations into a walking rotting corpse, Zombie Boy spent $1,700,000. With his disgusting appearance, painted beetles and rotten skeleton, Zombie Boy evokes disgust and misunderstanding from the outside. Is it worth disfiguring yourself and boasting about your search for death? Everyone has to decide for themselves.

Video: Rick Genest - the best advertisement for foundation


One of the most famous freaks and perhaps the most famous tattooed guy in the fashion world, Rick Genes, better known as Zombie Boy, was found dead after falling from a height at his home in Canada. His death is still surrounded by speculation, the official cause has not yet been announced, but Lady Gaga, with whom Zombie Boy collaborated 7 years ago, was one of the first to react to his death in her official public pages.

32-year-old Rick Genest was famous throughout the world as Zombie Boy because of his tattoos, which completely covered his body from head to toe. He could be seen in advertising cosmetics Dermablend, in Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" video, in the movie "47 Ronin" with Keanu Reeves and on the runway for numerous brands' fashion shows.


Rick Genest's name has been included in the Guinness Book of Records twice. Once as the person with the most bone tattoos on his body - there were as many as 139 of them at the time of recording the record, and the second time - as the person with the most insect tattoos - 176.


Rick's family believes his death was a tragic accident - he may have lost his balance on the balcony while smoking. Moreover, the police could not find any suicide note. Police say the most likely cause of his death is suicide. One way or another, on August 1, 2018, a 32-year-old guy fell from the 4th floor and did not survive the fall.


"The suicide of my friend Rick Genest, Zombie Boy, has left me devastated," Lady Gaga tweeted. "We need to work harder to make sure people's mental health issues are no longer a stigma. If you're feeling down, call your family or friends. We must save each other."

Lady Gaga's posts are explained by the fact that Rick Genest suffered from mental disorders. Although no one specifies what exactly bothered Zombie Boy, it was not a new fact for the people he spent a lot of time with.


Eight years ago, Zombie Boy was discovered by Nicola Formichetti, Lady Gaga's stylist and creative director of the French fashion house MUGLER. Rick, who began getting his tattoos at the age of 16, by that time already stood out from the people around him. The reason for this was a strong experience - at the age of 15 he was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and he had to spend six months waiting for a brain operation, which could have the most disastrous consequences for a teenager.


His goal was to create tattoos that imitated the inside of a person - so on Rick's skull you could see a tattoo of the brain, his face imitated a bare skull, and almost all the bones were drawn across his body.


Despite his provocative appearance, or perhaps because of it, Zombie Boy was invited several times to fashion shows as models in Paris and New York. In addition, he has appeared in many famous magazines, including GQ, Vanity Fair and Vogue Hommes.

Rick Genest, world-famous tattoo model under the pseudonym Zombie Boy, was found dead in Canada. The incident was reported by the Canadian radio station Radio Canada, citing the police. It is assumed that it was suicide. According to information from authorities, the man had mental problems.

Zombie Boy got his first tattoo at age 15, two months after surgery to remove a brain tumor. Then he began to stuff his whole body. For a long time he participated in a freak show traveling across Canada.

Rick Genest gained popularity after the release of Lady Gaga's video in 2011, in which he played the lead role.

Next came offers to participate in shows as a model. Such major publications as Vogue, Vanity Fair and others wrote about him. Zombie Boy managed to get a small role in the film “47 Ronin” with Keanu Reeves. He also worked with musician Mike Riggot on his new album.

Rick Genest twice entered the Guinness Book of Records in the following categories: most tattoos bones And insects on the body.

Lady Gaga posted touching posts on her Twitter.

The suicide of Rick Genest's friend, Zombie Boy, is beyond destruction. We need to work harder to change the culture, bring mental health to the forefront and erase the stigma that we can't talk. If you are suffering, call a friend or family today. We must save each other.

Science tells us that it takes 21 days to form a habit. If you are suffering from a mental health issue, which is what I expect [to hear from you] today, I will be your first step or continuation of the fight you have started. Understand if you are in pain, and if you know someone who is [and can help], reach out to them

Before his death, Rick Genest posted a post on his profile with his poem on the meaning of life. In the lines, Zombie Boy calls on Dambala - this is the name of the spirit in the voodoo religion. Caring subscribers and fans consider this his farewell note. Dambala is the Great Serpent who is the beginning and end of all things and the God of Heaven.

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