Online, She Inspired Millions. At Home, She Was a Single Mother of 2.
The New York Times
Carol Acosta, known to her fans as “Killadamente,” transformed herself into a social media influencer with a message of self-love. The Dominican American star died last week at the age of 27.
As a Dominican American girl growing up in a small, immigrant neighborhood in Newark, Carol Acosta was relentlessly taunted about her weight. Her home life was chaotic, too: Neighbors said they heard shouting matches from inside her family’s small apartment.
But online, Ms. Acosta found an outlet for her struggles, using her humor and natural self-confidence to broadcast anti-bullying messages to young women. And in time, she rose to fame, known to her millions of followers by her online persona: “Killadamente.”
Ms. Acosta died on Jan. 3, according to her sisters, Katherine and Katyan Acosta, who said the cause was unclear. Videos posted to a TikTok account that appeared to belong to Katyan Acosta suggested that her sister had suffered a medical emergency and been taken to a hospital.
Ms. Acosta left behind two young children. She was 27.
Ms. Acosta’s celebrity among the Dominican diaspora and beyond, boosted by her music, fashion sense and messages of self-love and body positivity, was scarcely evident from her modest life in and around Newark, where she raised two children as a single mother.
Rafaela Chaves moved two and a half years ago into the apartment where Ms. Acosta had raised her two daughters in Kearny, N.J., just north of Newark. She said she could still remember Ms. Acosta as she was moving out: packing boxes in her pajamas and apologizing to Ms. Chaves for the mess as a toddler ran around.
