BBC star Emilie Dequenne, who has passed away at the age of 43, shared a heartbreaking admission after her cancer relapsed. The Belgian actress was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer known as adrenocortical carcinoma two years ago, and fought the disease before it sadly came back last year.
Emilie, who was known for her role as police officer Laurence Relaud in the hit drama series ‘The Missing’, first revealed her cancer diagnosis of the adrenal gland in October 2023. She bravely fought the disease and, in April 2024, shared an optimistic update that she was in remission. “I was close to forgetting because I was leaving the hospital today after 13 days… What a tough battle,” Emilie shared.
Tragically, the actress’s health declined, and the rare cancer returned towards the end of last year. She heartbreakingly told French television show TF1 in December, “I know I will not live as long as planned,” as she spoke openly about her condition deteriorating. Just a few months later, her family and agent announced that she had sadly passed away in a hospital just outside Paris on Sunday, 16 March.
In her last Instagram post on 14 February, Emilie paid tribute to her husband of 10 years, Michel Ferracci. Alongside a sweet photo of the couple sharing a heartfelt hug, she wrote in French: “To all those who love each other… who loved each other and who will love each other… Happy Valentine’s Day! My Valentine, how incredibly lucky I am to have you by my side every day. And how proud I am of you. I loved you, I love you, and I will always love you.”
Emilie was cherished by BBC audiences for her portrayal in the hit drama series ‘The Missing’. Her remarkable talent also shone through in the film ‘Rosetta’, which won her the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival. Her impressive career spanned across various genres, including performances in ‘Wolf’, ‘Yes, But…’, ‘The Very Merry Widows’, ‘The Light’, ‘Close’, and French language films such as ‘The Girl On The Train’ and ‘Our Children’.
She also starred in her final film, ‘Survive’, towards the end of 2022, but later revealed that at the time she was unaware of her illness. In an interview with Action Elite, she shared: “So I’m fighting cancer, which is something really strange when you look at Survive and me fighting against all the crabs. But I didn’t know I was sick by the time I was shooting the movie, and I got sick almost like six or eight months later. I’m still fighting.”
Emilie was a proud mother to 22-year-old daughter Milla Savarese, and she credited her own experience of motherhood as the driving force behind her decision to take on the role.
She said: “I can’t explain, but when you became a mother, it’s like your strength and your power and your braveness completely changed. And you see life through another vision. And that’s what completely attracted me when I read the script, is that for me, it was really realistic, actually despite the fact that, of course, it’s dystopic and I love that.”
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