Very sad news over the weekend from the entertainment industry:
Esta TerBlanche, a veteran actress best known for playing Gillian Andrassy on the popular soap opera All My Children, has passed away.
He was 51 years old.
According to the star’s goddaughter, who spoke to TMZ, TerBlance “unexpectedly died” on Thursday at her North Hollywood home.
Authorities believe she had been missing for about a day when medical personnel discovered her body.
He The cause of his death is under investigation. Representative Lisa Rodrigo had this to say celebrity gossip website, emphasizing that no other information is available at this time.
TerBlanche rose to fame after winning Miss Teen South Africa in 1991.
The late actress landed her first acting role as Bienkie Naudé Hartman in South Africa’s first soap opera, “Egoli: Place of Gold,” from 1992 to 1995.
Two years later, she was cast as Andrassy on All My Children.
The character was a troubled Hungarian princess who was married to Ryan Lavery (Cameron Mathison).
She was murdered in 2001 (after being shot by an assassin in a case of mistaken identity), although TerBlanche returned as Gillian’s ghost for one episode in 2011.
“When I came back, Cameron and I were very emotional. When we saw each other, we both started crying,” TerBlanche told Soap Opera Digest years ago. “At the time, we hadn’t seen each other in years, so it was a very touching moment for us.”
After her character was killed off on All My Children, TerBlanche returned to South Africa… where she opened a spa and worked on documentaries with filmmaker Michael Kastenbaum.
At the time of her death, TerBlanche was dividing her time between South Africa and California.
Annie Spolianky, the star’s manager, also confirmed the sad news to Variety, saying TerBlanche was a “wonderful, kind and caring person.”
Meanwhile, Mathison paid tribute to TerBlanche on Sunday in a series of Instagram Stories.
The first one read: “RIP my sweet princess” above a photo of the couple on set.
In another story, she added: “This helped me last year when [my dog] Red was sick and paralyzed and I was struggling. One of the sweetest people I have ever met.”
We send our condolences to Esta TerBlanche’s friends, family and loved ones.
Rest in peace.