New twist in fitness influencer Aziz 'Zyzz' Shavershian's mysterious death... as cause is finally revealed

Long before the advent of 'looksmaxxing' and fitness influencers proliferated on Instagram, Zyzz was something of a patron saint for bodybuilders.

Aziz Shavershian, best known by his online moniker Zyzz, rose to prominence in the 2000s as an Australian bodybuilder and YouTuber with a hyper-masculine cult following of tens of thousands of devout fans.

He shared videos about his life and his workouts, with clips proudly showcasing his chiseled physique alongside his 'aesthetics crew,' and coined his widely adopted catchphrase, 'U mirin' brah?', slang that meant 'admiring.' At the peak of his online fame, he had garnered north of 60,000 Facebook followers, and developed a clothing line, a protein supplement brand and had written a book called Zyzz's Bodybuilding Bible.

But his rapid rise was cut short in August 2011, when Shavershian suddenly died at age 22 while on a trip to Thailand.

The mystery surrounding his death sparked rampant speculation about his alleged use of steroids, with many seeing his death as a cautionary tale about abusing performance-enhancing drugs. In life, however, Shavershian denied taking them.

At the time of his death, it was reported that he had been discovered in a sauna and had suffered a heart attack – the extreme heat coupled with a previously undiagnosed congenital heart defect reportedly making for a fatal combination.

But in the years since, even his family has remained tight-lipped about further details, with his own brother refusing to speak on it as recently as last year – though he promised the truth would be revealed eventually.

It seems that day has finally arrived, for a new documentary, Revealed – Poster Boy: Becoming Zyzz, sheds light on the young bodybuilder's untimely death 15 years on.

The film, which premieres this week, also comes at a time when 'looksmaxxing' – the controversial or extreme methods of achieving peak male aesthetics – and its proponents has found its way into the mainstream. And to this day, those inspired by Zyzz pay their respects to the late 'gymfluencer' online, praising him for his contributions to the fitness community.

Shavershian and his brother Said, who adopted his own bodybuilding persona 'Chestbrah,' were born in Russia to Kurdish-Armenian parents who immigrated to Australia in the '90s.

According to an undated interview with the bodybuilding site Simply Shredded, Shavershian said he was 'ridiculously thin' throughout high school, his lanky figure eliciting comments from his peers, and he recalled feeling like he was 'the same size' as girls. 

When he eventually began working out, he would spend hours at a time in the gym, and would later say that his 'hard work' and 'strict diet' were the reason for his super-fit physique – not drugs. He would, however, often use gym slang referring to performance-enhancers, such as 'riding bicycles' which refers to steroid cycling.

'He started getting bigger than me, and I didn’t know why,' Said, 40, now a fitness coach with more than 441,000 Instagram followers, recalled on the podcast The Secrets of the Underworld last year. 'And then I walked in on him putting a needle in his bum.'

As Shavershian tried to navigate exactly how to make money from being Zyzz online, he turned to other ways to make a living, even selling pictures of himself 'to gross old men on the internet,' according to the Guardian.

He also reportedly started experimenting with substances not previously used in humans, and, as the hate grew, friends said that he obsessed over his image and took Xanax for his anxiety.

At times, the online vitriol spilled into real life. Said recalled to the Sydney Morning Herald how one night, Shavershian was attacked outside of a nightclub.

'He was one of the most beautiful men to walk the planet, not just physically, but internally,' Said told the Guardian. 'I hate that these people put these thoughts in his head.'

One month before Shavershian's death, in July 2011, Said and four others were charged with possession of an anabolic steroid during a police raid. Said pled guilty and was fined $400, as well as ordered to pay $79 in court fees. 

When Shavershian booked a trip to Pattaya City, Thailand, a friend voiced concerns about the proliferation of steroids and benzodiazepines in the city, likening the pharmacies there to 'candy shops.' Shavershian, however, had said that he just needed a vacation, but according to the Guardian, had secretly booked a nose and cheek reconstruction overseas.

Before jetting off for his ill-fated trip, he asked his followers: 'Off to Thailand for a month this weekend, any traveller tips....' And his last post came just two days before he died: 'One year ago, and 10kgs lighter. 100kg now (90kg here) this size is the sweet spot for girls...Arnold status here I come.'

On August 5, 2011, Shavershian died. At the time, it was reported that a previously undiagnosed heart condition had caused him to suffer cardiac arrest, though any further details remained largely a mystery in the years that followed, and rumors ran wild online among fans.

Adding to the speculation was the fact that his personal belongings were stolen after he died. 

The Sydney Morning Herald reported in August 2011 that his laptop, wallet and clothes, were stolen from his hotel room. His ID was also missing, reportedly causing delays in the identification of his body and coordinating the repatriation of his remains back to Sydney. Records also showed that he had spent $20,000 in Thailand, according to a friend who did not want to be identified.

'He had an undiagnosed heart condition which we had no idea about,' his mother, Maiane Iboian, told the Daily Telegraph at the time.

'He did have some symptoms. He was short of breath, sometimes he would have high blood pressure, but it only started to show over the last few months.'

But now, filmmaker Selina Miles, along with Shavershian's parents, are revealing his cause of death: acute respiratory failure due to a fatal mix of cocaine, morphine and benzodiazepines. And, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, he died in a wellness spa – not a sauna.

While filmmaker Selina Miles revealed that Shavershian did have an enlarged heart, it is unknown what caused it, 'whether it was his steroid use or something else,' Miles said, per The Guardian. Anabolic steroids can enlarge the heart and increase the likelihood of heart failure.

'We don't know what he took when,' Miles added. 'But it was a drug interaction that caused his death.'

Dying young is not uncommon in the bodybuilding community, and according to Dr Marco Vecchiato from the University of Padova, Italy, the sport 'involves several practices that could have an impact on health.' Among them, he said, are 'extreme strength training, rapid weight loss strategies including severe dietary restrictions and dehydration, as well as the widespread use of different performance-enhancing substances.'

'These approaches can place significant strain on the cardiovascular system, increase the risk of irregular heart rhythm, and may lead to structural heart changes over time.'