In junior high school, Okada wanted to become a singer and applied for every possible audition, anything from major productions to the smallest talent recruitment, hoping to become a star.

[citation needed] Okada made her debut in 1984,[1] when on April that year, she released her first single, "First Date", written by composer and singer Mariya Takeuchi.

)[9] On April 8, 1986, Okada was found with a slashed wrist in her gas-filled Tokyo apartment, crouching in a closet and crying.

Okada's manager eventually arrived and took her to nearby Kita Aoyama Hospital [ja], where her injuries were treated.

While Fukuda, the management director and the staff were discussing how to avoid a media scandal,[8][11] Okada ran to the stairs, went to the roof of the seven-story building, took off her shoes, and jumped, resulting in instant death.

Okada was reported to have been "upset and depressed about an unhappy love affair",[12] with an actor described to be "old enough to be her father",[1] Tōru Minegishi,[11][13] a co-star in Kinjirareta Mariko.

[11] Okada's remains were cremated,[1] and were interred at the Jōman-ji Temple,[3] Inuyama, Aichi Prefecture,[14] Japan.

[16] In turn, it has been suggested that Okada may have had in mind idol Yasuko Endō, who also committed suicide by falling from a rooftop ten days earlier.

Mariya Takeuchi covered three of the songs she wrote for Okada on her fortieth anniversary album Turntable.