Former All My Children Star Dies at 51

A face that will be familiar to longtime fans of the soap opera All My Children is gone. Esta TerBlanche, who played Princess Gillian Andrassy Lavery on the show from 1997 to 2001, has died at her home in North Hollywood at age 51, reports Deadline. No cause of death was specified. TerBlanche was a native of South Africa who was once crowned Miss Teen South Africa, notes People. One of her other notable roles was on the TV series Egoli: Place of Gold in the early 1990s. Her full IMDb profile is here.

"I am still processing and in shock," wrote her publicist, Lisa Rodrigo, on Facebook. "Esta was a beautiful soul in and out." Cameron Mathison, who played TerBlanche's love interest on the soap, also paid homage, per NBC News. "RIP my sweet princess," he captioned a photo of the two of them on Instagram. "One of the sweetest people ever." (More All My Children stories.)