Cameron Mathison is devastated over the loss of his All My Children co-star Esta TerBlanche. Following the news of TerBlanche’s death at 51 on July 21, Mathison mourned TerBlanche in a series of posts on his Instagram Story.
The actor shared a photo of himself with TerBlanche as their All My Children characters, Ryan Lavery and Gillian Andrassy. “My RIP my sweet princess,” he wrote.
He later shared a selfie with TerBlanche and added the caption, “Esta helped me last. year when Red was sick and paralyzed and I was struggling. One of the sweetest people ever.”
TerBlanche played the beloved Hungarian princess on All My Children from 1997 to 2001. Gillian and Ryan were married in a TV wedding in 1998. After leaving the show in 2001, TerBlanche returned for the series finale in 2011.
The actress was found dead in her Los Angeles home on July 18. A cause of death has not been revealed. Her agent Lisa Rodrigo confirmed TerBlanche’s death on 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. An autopsy report is pending,” Rodrigo wrote.
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.”
TerBlanche was born in South Africa. She won Miss Teen South Africa in 1991. She made her TV debut on the South African soap Egoli: Place of Gold in 1992 before getting her role on All My Children.
In a recent interview, TerBlanche reminisced about her return to AMC in 2011 and how emotional it was to reunite with Mathison after so many years.
“When I came back, it was really emotional for me and Cameron,” TerBlanche told Soap Opera Digest. “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.”