A woman known only as “Amanda,” from a YouTube documentary series has passed away according to the docuseries Soft White Underbelly, in which she was featured. She died in the treatment center where she lived, apparently of natural causes. Her story, including her struggle with drugs and mental illness, went viral as part of the controversial documentary series last year. On social media, news of her death was met with both sorrow at her passing and praise for how far she’d come.

Soft White Underbelly is an ongoing documentary project by photographer Mark Laita, which features intimate interviews with some of society’s most marginalized people, including drug addicts, prostitutes and the unhoused. Participants are photographed by Laita and then encouraged to tell intimate details of their life stories in exchange for a small monetary compensation.

According to Laita, “The videos are meant to create awareness of things that are broken in our country. If we don’t look at these things, they will continue to get worse and worse.”

While many, including Laita himself, see the series as giving voice to the voiceless, others have felt it exploits societies most vulnerable. Amanda’s story in particular, went viral because the YouTube videos showed in graphic detail the 24-year old woman’s rapid decline over a period of only four months. In several videos the young woman speaks incoherently, scratches herself repeated and is clearly suffering from delusions and paranoia. 

Many have questioned the motives of Laita, a white man, whose subjects are often people of color.

Before her death, however Amanda had made major strides towards a better life. She was a patient at a Los Angeles residential treatment center called Aura and had been sober for nearly a year. Lima Jevremovic, the founder of Aura said during an interview that Amanda had become and inspiration for others and had even used some of the more disturbing videos from the documentary to help encourage others to stay in the treatment center and overcome their own problems with addiction.

“[Amanda] called me and told me ‘I never want to go back to that life. I can’t believe that was me.'” Jevremovic says in the video. “She wasn’t even embarrassed about it, she was proud of how far she had come.”

Before her death it seemed that Amanda was on the mend. She was scheduled to released for outpatient care, making her untimely death even more tragic. 

Tributes for the young woman, whose story touched many, were made on social media.