Brian Pillman - Personal Life and Death

Personal Life and Death

Pillman developed multiple throat polyps as a child and had over 40 operations before the age of three.

Pillman dated Terri Runnels while they were in World Championship Wrestling together before her marriage to Dustin Rhodes. He later married Melanie on March 17, 1993. She already had two children at the time, Alexis and Jesse. At the time, he also had two children, his daughters, Danielle and Brittany. Brian and Melanie had two children together, Brian Jr. & Skylar. Pillman never learned that Melanie was pregnant with Skylar, who was born on May 5, 1998, seven months after Pillman's death in October 1997.

Pillman was scheduled to wrestle Dude Love at the WWF pay-per-view Badd Blood: In Your House. However, Pillman was late that night. Eventually, some WWF staff searched for him and discovered his body in a Bloomington, Minnesota hotel room, where he had died sometime during the day. Pillman was 35 years old. An autopsy found that a previously undetected heart condition, arteriosclerotic heart disease, had led to his death; the condition had also led to the death of his father. Pillman's use of drugs and alcohol also contributed to his death.

In early 2008, Pillman's stepdaughter, Alexis Reed, started her wrestling career as a valet and ring girl under the name "Sexy" Lexi Pillman. Alexis died, aged 26, on Thanksgiving night, November 26, 2009, from injuries sustained in an automobile accident.