New York TikTok star Eva Evans, creator of the comedic web series “Club Rat,” has died at 29.
The content creator and filmmaker’s sister Lila Joy Baumgardner announced the news on Instagram over the weekend.
“after 24 hours, i still find myself in a constant cycle of denial and acceptance, so i know how unbelievable and hard to process this news will be,” she wrote, adding, “i wish i had Eva here now to refer to because she would have better words and know how to say what i don’t.”
Evans, whose cause of death was not made public, had built an audience of 300,000 followers on TikTok, where she shared thoughts and stories about her life in New York City. In her final video, posted last week, she said that she was “rooting” for fellow internet creator JoJo Siwa after the singer and dancer announced that she was pivoting away from her child-friendly “Dance Moms” persona.
Evans also directed and starred in the Amazon Prime Video web series “Club Rat,” which rolled out last year with five episodes and saw Evans play an influencer navigating dating in New York City after a chaotic breakup.
A public celebration of life for Evans is scheduled for Tuesday in downtown Manhattan, Baumgardner said online.
As the news of her death circulated, those who knew Evans shared emotional tributes.
In an Instagram story, actress Julia Fox shared Evans’ last TikTok about Siwa and expressed her grief in a tear-filled video.
“I always saw her like a little sister and I know she looked up to me. And that’s the kind of person she was, sticking up for Jojo, always sticking up for me,” Fox said. “She was so young, still had so much to do in life.”
Photographer and director Ashley Armitage also shared in an Instagram post Sunday that she “loved Eva the minute I met her.”
“Eva was smart, hilarious, creative, caring, magnetic, confident. She moved through the world loving and laughing at everything,” Armitage wrote. “She had such an orbit, people flocked to her and wanted to be in her world. Eva was open and vulnerable and made people who just met her feel like they’d been friends for years.”
Musician and content creator Nigel Roxbury, also known as Chris Murch, said in a TikTok video Sunday that he “woke up in complete shock” after hearing the news.
“New York City won’t be the same, ever,” he said. “So creative, so nice, very genuine person.”
And cinematographer Sonja Tsypin, who had worked with Evans, shared a series of stills of Evans from a film the pair never finished making.
“There are no words for what I’m feeling. I laughed the hardest with you. We would get so caught up talking that other people at the dinner table would get annoyed,” Tsypin wrote in the post. “I made all my first films with you and we were fearless. I would do anything to have you back.”
