What happened to Bianca Ryan, AGT’s first winner?

‘America’s Got Talent’ has been airing in the TV for almost 20 years now, providing platform for talents to a huge name using the world’s largest stage. Back in 2006, it was the only show welcoming all kinds of talents. That said, Bianca Ryan, then-11 year old girl became the very first winner of AGT season 1. She wowed the judges with her strong vocals and won $1 million prize money.

On August 16, 2006, Bianca was crowned the winner, and just four months after, she released her ‘Bianca Ryan’ album which had a track, ‘Why Couldn’t It Be Christmas Every Day?‘ The song has been streamed 21 million times on Spotify, while has almost 2 million views on YouTube. This song is so popular that it always has a place in top 50 Christmas songs.

So, what happened to Bianca Ryan and where is she now?

Bianca Had Vocal Cord Surgery

As Bianca got older, her vocal cord worsened. Talking with Pickler and Ben, she revealed that she had to go through multiple surgeries to correct her vocal cord complications. She also stated that it took her two full years to recover and she even had hard times speaking and eating.

GoldDerby reported, she had to cancel all her performance schedule because of that. Back in 2016, she had vocal and abdominal surgery as she was high-risk candidate for esophageal cancer.

Her Return to AGT: The Champions

Winning the OG America’s Got Talent landed her record deal with Simon Cowell, but her health issue left her no choice but to halt her career. However, after full recovery, she returned to the stage of America’s Got Talent: The Champions in 2019.

At that time, she said,

“Coming back now at 24 after surgeries, I just wasn’t sure if Simon Cowell was gonna like my new voice after surgery.”

Her voice was praised highly and Simon, Howie, Mel B, and Heidi all gave her standing ovations. But, because of the votes, she was eliminated.

Where Is She Now?

Since elimination, she is mostly away from the limelight. She does share some video clips in her Instagram, and TikTok, but except of few posts, all are before 2022.

As an avid makeup lover, she her her own line of beauty products. She launched her lipstick line Ciao Bianca in December 2018, which has 23 shades.