Months after the devastating news All My Children star Esta TerBlanche had died, the soap star’s cause of death has been confirmed.
On January 29, the County of Los Angeles Department of Medical Examiner reported the 51-year-old actor, best known for her role as a troubled Hungarian princess on the soap died from an intracranial hemorrhage due to blunt force traumatic head injury, according to a press release.
The department determined the head injury was “likely due to a ground level fall” and the manner of death has been determined an accident.
Further details revealed that TerBlanche was found unresponsive at her home on July 19, 2024, and she was pronounced dead by paramedics around 11 in the morning.
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The star’s death was confirmed by her manager Annie Spoliansky in a statement soon after.
“We are deeply saddened by this news,” she told People on July, 21 last year.
“As for a personal statement, I’d like to say that Esta was such a kind, loving, giving, and caring person.”
Highlighting her penchant for taking in and caring for stray animals, Spoliansky said TerBlanche “cared so deeply” for them as well as “all people”.
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“Esta was never anything but generous and lovely to me,” Spoliansky her statement continued.
“I’m grateful to have known her for the time that I did, and devastated to learn of her passing.”
TerBlanche’s death, per Deadline, was first announced by her publicist Lisa Rodrigo to Facebook.
“I can not believe I am posting this. It’s with a heavy heart that my friend and client Esta TerBlanche passed away Thursday of natural causes,” Rodrigo wrote at the time.
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“An autopsy report is pending. I am still processing and in shock. Esta was a beautiful soul in and out. I was proud to know her and work with her. More to come in the days ahead,” Rodrigo wrote.
“Thank you for the messages so far. If I haven’t gotten to you, I will soon. May she RIP with the angels that she is.”
Born in the North West province of South Africa in 1973, TerBlanche was crowned Miss Teen South Africa in 1991.
She went on to star in Egoli: Place of Gold for three years, before moving to the United States to further pursue acting.
In 1997, TerBlanche landed the role that made her a household name, playing troubled Hungarian princess Gillian Andrassy Lavery on All My Children until 2001.
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“RIP my Sweet Princess,” Cameron Mathison, who played TerBlanche’s onscreen husband Ryan Lavery on the soap, wrote on Instagram on Sunday.
“Esta helped me last year when Red was sick and paralysed and I was struggling,” he continued in another tribute.
“One of the sweetest people ever.”
TerBlanche, who had hosted several television shows, worked on multiple documentaries and opened a spa following her time on the soap, was understood to have been splitting her time between California and South Africa at the time of her death.
She is survived by her goddaughter, Barbie Ashley, and her ex-husband.
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