Eva Ekvall, former Miss Venezuela, dies of breast cancer at 28

Former Miss Venezuela Eva Ekvall died this past weekend of breast cancer. She was 28.

Ekvall's family told the Associated Press that the former beauty queen died Saturday in Houston.

Ekvall won the title of Miss Venezuela in 2000 when she was 17. She went on to be the third runner-up in a Miss Universe pageant the following year and worked as a model, actress, television news anchor and author.

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She was diagnosed six months after the birth of her first child, a daughter, ABC News reported.

Her book, "Fuera de Foco" or "Out of Focus," was about her struggle with breast cancer, and it brought her battle with the disease to the public eye.

After the book came out with photographs of her with her head shaved, she told El Nacional: "I hate to see photos in which I come out ugly… But you know what? Nobody ever said cancer is pretty or that I should look like Miss Venezuela when I have cancer."

She later told BBC: "It's absurd that there should be a taboo about breast cancer in a country of breast implants, where women have few reservations about showing off their surgically-enhanced breasts."

Ekvall leaves behind a husband and 2-year-old daughter.