Who was Poonam Pandey, model-actor who died of cervical cancer at the age of 32?

Poonam Pandey apologised for causing shock among her followers after her team announced she had died due to cervical cancer.

Model-actor Poonam Pandey died of cervical cancer at the age of 32, her team informed in a message over Instagram on Friday. Her final post on the social networking platform was four days ago- a clip of her, flanked by security personnel, at an an event in Goa.

The news of Pandey's death left many followers shocked who paid their tributes on Instagram.

Here's everything you need to know about Poonam Pandey:

• Born on March 11, 1991 in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, Pandey started her career as a model and was one of the top nine contestants of the "Gladrags Manhunt and Megamodel Contest" and appeared on the cover page of the magazine.
• In 2011, Pandey was one of the contestants in the television series "Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi 4", in which she finished in 11th place.
• Pandey made her acting debut in the short film "The Uncanny" released in 2013. In the same year, she made her full-fledged debut in "Nasha" where she essayed the role of a teacher who ends up in a sexual relationship with one of her students. Her last theatrical release was "The Journey of Karma", released in 2018 in which she played the titular role of Karma D'souza.
• On September 1, 2020, Pandey married long-term boyfriend Sam Bombay in a private ceremony in Mumbai. On September 11, Pandey lodged a complaint against her husband and claimed that he had assaulted, molested and threatened her. He was arrested in Goa on September 23 and later released on bail.  After his release, Pandey talked things over with him which led to many trolling her on social media and referring to the entire incident as a publicity stunt.
• In 2017, Pandey launched her own app, which was later suspended from Google Play Store and made available only on her website.

2011 World Cup final and the reveal that did not happen

While Pandey made her acting debut in 2013, she rose to the spotlight in 2011 when she promised to strip for the MS Dhoni-led Indian men's cricket team if they won the ODI World Cup final in Mumbai.

India went on to win the tournament, but Pandey did not fulfill her promise and later said that she was denied permission by the BCCI.