Arlindo de Souza, known online for looking like the real-life Popeye after injecting mineral oil and alcohol into his arms, has died at 55.
The Brazilian bodybuilder shot to fame in the early 2000s because of his desire to look like Popeye. He appeared on a number of TV shows in his homeland and across the globe, clocking in with biceps measuring 73 centimeters.
He’d become an online star too, with a new generation of viewers picking up his early 2000’s TV appearances and unique look.
However, on January 13, his family announced that he’d died after a stay in hospital following complications tied to renal failure.
Arlindo de Souza dead at 55
De Souza had been hospitalized in December, with his nephew, Denis Gomes de Luna, confirming to Globo in Brazil that his kidneys had failed before Christmas.
“He was hospitalized with kidney problems. One of his kidneys stopped working, and the other one stopped working the week of Christmas,” Arlindo’s nephew said.
“His lungs started filling with fluid. He didn’t even get to have hemodialysis because he suffered cardiac arrest. The death certificate hasn’t come out yet, but I believe it was due to multiple organ failure.”
As per De Luna, Arlindo was buried the following day, January 14, but they have yet to inform all of his family members of his passing.
That includes their grandmother, with whom he had been living. “He lived with my grandmother and was her darling. She still doesn’t know about his death because she is very old and bedridden,” De Luna added.
Arlindo had long advised people to not follow him in using mineral oil to pump up his muscles. “I advise no one to take this oil,” he said back in 2014.
“I’ve stopped taking it, and other things as well, but there is always that will to start again. But I’m managing to control myself, to this day.”
