Announcing Bennett\u2019s death on social media, Estrada, Slayton and Van Oppen said: \u201cIt is with great sadness that we share the passing of our beloved Lauren.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur hearts are broken, and we cannot begin to express how much she meant to us. We will forever cherish the love, laughter, and countless memories she gave us.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer beautiful spirit touched so many lives, and she will be deeply missed and forever loved.<\/p>\n
\u201cRest peacefully, sweet Lauren. You will always be in our hearts. Your GRLS, Em, Tash, and P.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bennett\u2019s death comes more than a decade after Battle\u2019s, which brought GRL\u2019s original lineup to an abrupt end.<\/p>\n
Months after Battle died, Bennett spoke to People magazine about the shock experienced by the group as they prepared for a performance.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cYou can never prepare yourself for something like this, ever.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019d just been in rehearsals the day before, learning choreography for our show, and the next day we were starting the morning as usual when we got the call.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still can\u2019t believe it. I don\u2019t think any of us can. It\u2019s weird that we\u2019re even sitting here, talking about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the same interview, Van Oppen reflected on Battle\u2019s death and the importance of encouraging conversations around mental health.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cShe was such a strong woman, and very independent, and we had no idea what she was going through, or her pain.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe admire how prideful she was, but now we just wish she\u2019d let us in a little bit so maybe we could have helped her.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow we want to spread that message that it\u2019s okay to talk about, and help people, maybe even change the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lauren first found mainstream success through LMFAO\u2019s Party Rock Anthem, one of the defining pop hits of the early 2010s, before becoming a member of GRL.<\/p>\n
The group went on to release Ugly Heart and Lighthouse, the latter serving as a tribute to Battle following her death.<\/p>\n
Antin\u2019s project had been conceived as a revival of the Pussycat Dolls, with Bennett joining a lineup blending established performers with emerging talent.<\/p>\n
Representatives for Bennett\u2019s family have not released further details regarding her death.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Announcing Bennett\u2019s death on social media, Estrada, Slayton and Van Oppen said: \u201cIt is with great sadness that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":513107,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[70447,18919,57197,690,6179,255127,42,2083,43,2737,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-513106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-70447","tag-aged","tag-bennett","tag-dead","tag-died","tag-grl","tag-headlines","tag-lauren","tag-news","tag-star","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=513106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/513107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}