Soap Star Esta TerBlanche Dead at 51

Esta TerBlanche, who starred on “All My Children,” has died at 51.

TerBlanche passed away in Los Angeles on Thursday, her publicist Lisa Rodrigo confirmed to The New York Times. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner is conducting an autopsy, Rodrigo added.

The publicist first shared the news of Esta’s passing on Facebook, writing, “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. An autopsy report is pending.”

She continued, “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… May she RIP with the angels that she is.”

TerBlanche appeared on “All My Children,” from 1997 to 2001 as Hungarian princess Gillian Andrassy, who married Ryan Lavery (Cameron Mathison).

Mathison remembered TerBlanche on Instagram Stories, by sharing a photo and writing, “RIP my sweet princess 💔.”

Earlier this month, Soap Opera Digest published an interview with Esta in which she recalled fond memories of working with Cameron.

“Cameron 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,” she said.

She returned for the series finale in 2011 as Gillian’s ghost, and recalled, “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.”

TerBlanche also shed light on what she’s been up to since leaving the soap full time.

Esta returned to her home country of South Africa, where she opened a spa, worked on documentaries with filmmaker Michael Kastenbaum, and hosted TV shows like “Supermodel” and “Carte Blanche.”

She shared, “I did a lot of traveling with those documentaries, and they were so amazing. We did something on the biggest snake in the world, and really interesting pieces that were scary, wild and amazing. A lot were on animals, so it was right up my alley.”

The article noted that in recent years she had split her time between South Africa and the U.S. and was open to getting back into soaps. “It’s definitely something I would like to get back into,” she said.