All My Children fans are in mourning. Series star Esta TerBlanche has died at the age of 51. To both fans and family, her death came as a shock.
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According to TMZ, the soap opera star "died unexpectedly" while at her North Hollywood home on Thursday. Her goddaughter confirmed her passing. According to medical personnel, TerBlanche may have been dead for around a day before someone discovered her. Her representative confirmed that authorities are investigating her death.
TerBlanche first gained fame for winning Miss Teen South Africa in 1991. However, fans will best remember her for her role of Gillian Andrassy on All My Children. She played the Hungarian princess who went on a transformation of humility. The soap killed off the character in 2001, but she briefly returned in 2011 to portray a ghost.
She opened up about her return to Soap Opera Digest."When I came back, it was really emotional for me and Cameron. When we saw each other, we both started bawling," TerBlanche said. "Back then, we hadn't seen each other for years, so it was such a touching moment for us."
Esta TerBlanche Dies
Following the show, she returned to South Africa. However, she wanted to jump start her acting again.
She stopped acting after leaving "All My Children" and moved back to South Africa.
But in the Soap Opera Digest interview, TerBlanche said she was spending more time in the U.S. and was ready to return to her career in Hollywood.
"It's definitely something I would like to get back into," she said. She also discussed her relationship with Cameron Mathison as well.
"I saw Cameron recently; I was babysitting his beautiful dog Red, who had cancer, and he was doing everything for him," she shared. "He was supposed to stay a day, but I kept saying he could stay longer, and after five nights, he started to walk, and it was such an amazing experience."
"A few months later, Red did pass away, but he got so much better in that time, and we had a very special time," she added. She later became active with the cancer foundation Create Your Breakthrough. "It's about helping people with cancer get the treatments they need and help fight this really awful disease," she said in the interview. "I lost my mom to cancer and my dad also has cancer, so I just feel really passionate about this.
She went on, "I would be so thrilled if in this lifetime, we can come up with some kind of a cure. It would be such a miracle. Seeing someone go through this in front of your eyes is just heartbreaking."
