Kyoko Kimura Says The Terrace House Incident Where Hana Kimura Was Angry Was Staged

Back on May 23, the professional wrestling was rocked by the passing of Stardom star Hana Kimura. She was 22-years-old. 

Kimura received online harassment daily in the months leading up to her death after a March episode of Terrace House depicted her as a villain. During the episode, Hana's outfit at Wrestle Kingdom 14 was shrunk in the washing machine by fellow housemate Kai Kobayashi. The stardom star reacted angrily to the incident, slapped Kobayashi's hat off his head and shouted at him which led to her receiving a torrent of online abuse. 

Hana's mother retired professional wrestler Kyoko Kimura was recently interviewed by Weekly Bunshun and she revealed the incident which led to Hana being harassed online was staged by the producers of Terrace House. Kyoko recalled speaking to Hana on May 15 after a birthday party for a relative and the Stardom star began to cry and said she was "made to do it." Kyoko also noted the producers wanted Hana to slap Kai Kobayashi in the face but she refused and agreed to knock his hat off his head instead. 

Kyoko Kimura said: "If it goes on like this, Hana's death will be described as a violent girl committing suicide because she was violent and abusive to a man and suffered criticism on social media. It's a storyline that can be put away as, 'I don't know.' The truth is completely different. She just played the heel role as instructed by the staff. At the very least, I'd like to restore Hana's honour."

She later added: "On May 15, Hana and I held a birthday party for my grandmother. On our way home, as I was driving her home, Hana began to talk to me with tears in her eyes... 'From the beginning of my time in Terrace House, I've been told to act like a professional wrestler... I'm going to take one thing and make it 100 and make it exciting. They asked me to do it. The staff were really upset with me about the costume thing. I thought I had to make it exciting, but I couldn't slap him as a pro wrestler. I thought I had to make things exciting, but I couldn't slap him as a wrestler, so I was distressed. And I flipped his hat. You can't trust the staff."

The article also noted: "In a text sent to a friend, Hana also wrote the following, 'I had my work tools broken and the staff told me to snap in front of the camera.'"