Esta TerBlanche, ‘All My Children’ Actor, Dies At 51

Actor Esta TerBlanche, who appeared on “All My Children” for over 100 episodes, has died. She was 51. 

TerBlanche’s manager, Annie Spoliansky, sent a statement to NBC News that confirmed the South African actor’s death and praised her for her kindness. 

“As for a personal statement, I’d like to say that Esta was such a kind, loving, giving, and caring person,” Spoliansky wrote. “She cared so deeply for all people and animals. She had squirrels she fed and looked after daily, her two cats and recent kittens that she cared for as her own children.”

She continued, “Esta was never anything but generous and lovely to me, and I’m grateful to have known her for the time that I did, and devastated to learn of her passing.”

TerBlanche portrayed Gillian Andrassy, a Hungarian princess, on “All My Children” from 1997 to 2001, returning in 2011, according to IMDb. She departed the series in 2001 after her character was killed but returned to the show for one episode during its final season in 2011 as a ghost. 

Earlier this month, she spoke to Soap Opera Digest about her time on the show. 

“The people I worked with were all so wonderful,” she gushed in the interview published July 13. “It was such a privilege to be on the show.”

She added, “Cameron (Mathison) was just phenomenal and I feel so blessed that I was able to work with him. He really made every day just wonderful. It was just magical. I could not have been luckier.”

Gillian and Ryan, Mathison’s character, were a couple on the show. 

Speaking about her return in “All My Children’s” last season, she said, “When I came back, it was really emotional for me and Cameron. When we saw each other, we both started bawling. Back then, we hadn’t seen each other for years, so it was such a touching moment for us.”

According to the publication, her character was written off the show after TerBlanche decided she wanted to relocate to her home country. 

She said at the time of the interview she was focused on animals and working on a rescue project.

“At the moment, I am knee-deep into some animal projects,” she told Soap Opera Digest. “I grew up on a game farm, and just love animals. I’m working with a rescue project for some prairie dogs. And my Persian cat just had kittens, so there’s a lot of feeding going on around my house.” 

She also shared that she had reunited with Mathison recently to babysit his dog Red. 

Mathison posted a sweet tribute to his former co-star on July 21, NBC News reported. He uploaded a picture with TerBlanche and captioned it, “RIP my sweet princess.”

He also shared another picture of the two of them. 

“Esta helped me last year when Red was sick and paralyzed and I was struggling. One of the sweetest people ever,” he said.