Catfish MTV 26-year-old is dead from apulmonary embolism. The catfish star was the sweetest boy that was ever on the MTV reality show. Fortunato died as a result of a pulmonary embolism due to deep vein thrombosis. Obesity and cardiomyopathy also contributed to his death but an autopsy has not yet been released.

Michael Fortuanato was called by MTV Catfish stars to meet Ashley Sawyer, who he's been chatting with over the internet for seven years. Ashely called Catfish because she felt guilty she had been sending altured pictures of herself, making her look thin, for all seven years. But when MTV Catfish arrived at Michael's house they were in for a big surprise. The mission became a double catfish as Fortunato was sending false slim pictures to Ashley as well.

Michael Fortuanto was a champ about the whole ordeal, giving Ashley a fair try to start their relationship on an honest, truthful fresh start. But Ashley was shallow and disappointed with the 26-year-old's larger look. The episode ended with Michael having a broken heart losing Ashley but apparently the pair rekindled their relationship after the show was filmed. Michael was the kindest boy I have even seen on the MTV show and his death was a huge surpise and tragedy to all viewers. 

"We are deeply saddened by the loss of Michael Fortunato," an MTV spokesperson said in a statement. "Our condolences, thoughts and prayers are with his family at this time." 

He was a little kid at heart - a gentle giant," his sister Gena said. "He's somebody who put everybody before himself; everybody else came before him. The biggest heart that you'd ever meet."

Ashely Sawyer, his Catfish love interest and longtime penpal said, "He would give anybody the last shirt he had - anything. He would put his life on hold just to make sure other people moved forward. He always put people first. Me and him were very much in love... We were definitely moving forward," Sawyer said.
"If more people were like Mike, everybody would be a little happier in the world." 

Our condolences to everyone at Catfish, Micheal's family ane his friends. He was a genuinly good guy.