Coroner confirms cause of death for Mary Jane Thomas, wife of Hank Williams Jr.

JUPITER, Fla. — Mary Jane Thomas, wife of country singer Hank Williams Jr., died of a collapsed lung, according to medical reports obtained by People magazine.

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Thomas, 58, died March 22, one day after her lung was punctured during an elective procedure at Bafitis Plastic Surgery in Jupiter, Florida, according to both a Palm Beach County Medical Examiner’s report as well as an autopsy obtained Monday by the entertainment news outlet.

Per the reports, the death was ruled accidental, and the autopsy lists the cause of death as “pneumothorax due to perforated parietal pleura during liposuction with autologous fat reinjection procedure.”

Thomas met Williams, the now-73-year-old son of late country music icon Hank Williams, at a 1985 concert. The couple wed five years later and shared two children: daughter Katherine, who died in a 2020 car crash, and 25-year-old son Samuel, also a musician.

The autopsy indicated that Thomas’ lung collapsed after her surgeon punctured the membrane, bound by connective tissue to the inner surface of the chest wall, while completing the fat transfer as part of a breast lift following a breast implant removal, People reported.

According to the magazine, the former model traveled from her home in Nashville, Tennessee, to the Palm Beach County facility for liposuction and the removal of previous breast implants on March 21. The following day, Thomas “suddenly” became unresponsive, was rushed to an area hospital and died in the emergency room, according to the reports.

At the time of Thomas’ death, a family source speculated that a blood clot may have contributed to her death, but the medical examiner’s report ruled out the theory, Taste of Country reported.

According to the report, Thomas’ surgeon said that her vitals were normal and that she was given the anticoagulant Lovenox to guard against the development of blood clots, People reported.

In addition to the cause of death, Thomas’ autopsy also revealed mild brain swelling, mild coronary artery disease and fatty metamorphosis of the liver, according to the magazine.

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