'Cooking with Lynja' Social Media Star Lynn Yamada Davis Dead at 67
'Cooking with Lynja' star Lynn Davis dies after battling esophageal cancer.
Jan. 12 2024, Published 2:52 p.m. ET
Beloved social media cooking star Lynn Yamada Davis has passed away at age 67, RadarOnline.com has learned.
Davis died on January 1 at Riverview Medical Center in New Jersey. She was famous for her comedic cooking videos on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube under the handle Cooking with Lynja.
Davis amassed over 17 million followers on TikTok.
Davis' daughter, Hannah Mariko Shofet, told the New York Times that her mom died of esophageal cancer. Davis was first diagnosed with throat cancer in 2019 and later diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 2021.
Davis rose to fame during the COVID-19 pandemic when her son Tim began uploading humorous videos of her cooking.
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Davis' daughter revealed that she died on January 1 after a battle with esophageal cancer.
What initially began as a month-long project, in which Tim would upload a cooking video of his beloved mom once a day. The casual posts exploded into massive social media success.
She amassed over 17 million followers on TikTok, contributing to over 311 million likes on her videos. On Instagram, 2.2 million users followed her videos. Her YouTube page was equally successful, boasting over 9 million subscribers with over 480 video uploads.
Davis' son announced the heartbreaking news on Instagram and shared photos of his late mom.
Tim announced his mother's passing in a heartfelt tribute video on Instagram captioned, "You’re the best mom I could have ever asked for but an even better friend. I love you mom."
He said his mother's "final moments were super peaceful and thankfully she was surrounded by the people she loved most, her friends and family."
Davis' son then shared the "best photos" of his mother throughout her life, which he noted they had complied over the last couple of weeks.
Tim proceeded to post moments from his mother's life through photographs, an act he said was done with the intent to "celebrate her life" and show her followers "how amazing and cool she really really was."
Davis began filming the videos with her son Tim during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last summer, while speaking with People, Davis admitted that she had "no idea" what TikTok was until her son began uploading the videos.
"He's the one who writes the script. He's the one who does the videography. He does all the editing. So, he really is the genius behind Cooking with Lynja. I just show up," Davis told the outlet.
Her breakout video was a recipe for a bacon, egg and cheese. After the recipe went viral, Davis said the mother-son project "just started growing after that."
Before she was a social media star, Davis worked as a software engineer. She completed her undergraduate degree at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) before going on to earn her MBA and MPH at Columbia University.
"She had this whole chapter as a groundbreaking female engineer, and she was very proud of that," Shofet said of her mom's former career.
Rest in Peace.
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