Tanya Roberts' Partner Explains Why He Thought She Had Died
Tanya Roberts She's Still Alive ... Despite Her Rep Saying She's Dead
UPDATE
4:25 PM PT -- We just spoke with Lance, Tanya's long-term partner. He tells us he went to the hospital Sunday after getting a call from doctors saying Tanya was fading fast, and it was going to end in her death.
UPDATE
He went to the hospital, and as he sat in her room she opened her eyes and tried to grab on to him, but her eyes closed and she "faded."
UPDATE
He said he was devastated and walked out of the room and then the hospital and never spoke with medical staff.
UPDATE
3:34 PM PT -- Tanya's rep, Mike Pingel, tells TMZ ... her domestic partner, Lance, was at the hospital Sunday when he saw Tanya's eyes close. For some reason, he says he thought she was dead so he left devastated.
UPDATE
What's unclear ... why did Lance think she was dead as opposed to just sleeping? Pingel does not know if Lance spoke to any medical staff before leaving and Lance isn't answering his phone now for clarification.
UPDATE
Pingel did tell us, he picked Lance up from the hospital and he said, "She died in my arms."
Tanya Roberts' death has been greatly exaggerated, because her rep now says she's alive, despite the rep not only telling TMZ she died, but sending out a press release with that information.
TMZ reported Sunday Tanya had died after collapsing at her home on Christmas Eve and being rushed to the hospital and placed on a ventilator.
The rep had told us she died Sunday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in L.A. He told us Tanya's husband had informed him that Tanya had passed.
We even got a quote from the rep from Tanya's husband, Lance, saying, "As I held her in her last moments, she opened her eyes."
Now the rep, Mike Pingel, tells TMZ, Lance got a call just after 10 AM Monday from the hospital saying Tanya was still alive. Pingel said Lance truly believed Tanya had died.
What's more shocking, Lance was recording an interview with Inside Edition when he got the call from the hospital to deliver the news ... a very emotional call.
Interestingly, friends of the family also contacted TMZ Sunday saying Lance had called them to inform them of the "That '70s Show" star's death.
As for how this could happen ... beats us.
Originally published -- 1:58 PM PT
