TikTok's "Brazilian Hulk" Dies on His 55th Birthday — Details

Viral TikTok star Brazilian Hulk rose to fame after giving the “do you even lift?” bros a run for their money. With 23-inch biceps and massive back muscles, his unique physique proceeds him. However, on Wednesday, Aug. 3, news outlets confirmed his death. So, what happened to the bodybuilder? Here’s what we know.

Brazilian Hulk — born Valdir Segato — was pronounced dead on his 55th birthday. According to his landlords who live nearby, Valdir had complained that he was experiencing shortness of breath around 6 a.m.

"He came crawling through the back house and came to the front," Moisés da Conceição da Silva told Globo, "Then he knocked on my mother's window, knocked, knocked, then she woke up and he said, 'Help me, help me because I'm dying.'''

He was subsequently rushed to the hospital. However, upon his arrival, his condition only worsened.

“They put him in the car and then the neighbor went to the UPA. He arrived at the UPA, [and] he fell at the reception, having a heart attack. I think he had a heart attack,” he added.

The neighbor told the outlet that this wasn’t Valdir’s first health scare. He explained that the bodybuilder experienced similar symptoms months earlier.

"He had already felt sick again, I had already helped him. He just didn't die because I ran very fast, I took the car, I went very fast until I got to the hospital," Moisés recalled. "[He] said that if it wasn't for me, he would have died that day. This time, my mother said that he said he was going to die, that he would not escape."

Historically, injections used to shape or enhance muscles have proven to be extremely dangerous. Although his cause of death is officially unknown, Valdir’s use of the site enhancement oil known as synthol — a dangerous concoction that he had been administering to himself for years to bulk up — likely led to his death.

Valdir injected the mixture — made of sesame oil, lidocaine, and alcohol — frequently and often shared photos of his growth on TikTok.

Although Synthol made him look stronger, it didn’t actually help build any muscle. To make matters worse, the cosmetic cocktail poses the risk of amputation, stroke, infection, and obviously, death.

In the years before his passing, Valdir didn’t deny these claims and even said that he had been warned against using the injections. “The doctors tell me to stop it, the advice they give me is to stop using,” the late TikToker said (per DailyMail).

Sadly, advice from health professionals did little to sway his opinion. “It's my decision to use it because I want to… because I like to,” he explained.

Before his rise to fame on TikTok, Valdir struggled with drug addiction and worked as a construction worker. At the time of his death, he had more than a million followers on TikTok.