Death of Maddy Anholt: BBC star and charity activist dies aged 35 from ‘rare and aggressive brain cancer’
BBC star Maddy Anholt has died a year after being diagnosed with a “rare and aggressive brain tumour”, her family said. She was 35.
“It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of Maddy Anholt, our beloved daughter, sister, twin, friend, wife and mother, who departed this world on Wednesday, September 13, at the age of 35,” her family said in a statement on Thursday morning.
“You may know that Maddy was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of brain cancer shortly after the birth of her incredible daughter Opal last year. She handled the subsequent surgery and treatment with amazing grace and courage and was supported every step of the way by her family and her devoted husband, Ben,” they added.
The statement was shared on a GoFundMe page set up to supply Opal, one.
Anholt, who starred in several sitcoms including Sunny D, shockAnd The Emily Attack ShowShe spent her final weeks with her parents at their home, Sunflower House, “bathed in love and peace and with the sounds of nature all around.”
Her family expressed their gratitude to “the countless nurses, doctors and the NHS as a whole” who cared for Anholt “with tireless dignity and compassion”.
“In particular we would like to thank the amazing team at Seaton Hospice at Home who are the embodiment of empathy, professionalism and love.”
Anholt was invited to become an ambassador for the Women’s Aid Federation of England after publishing her first book entitled How to leave your psychopatha non-fiction title about breaking free from toxic and controlling relationships.
“How to leave your psychopath is a candid portrayal of the complex, subtle nature of coercive control and abusive relationships from comedian Maddy Anholt, who—until her eyes were opened—had spent her entire dating life trapped in them,” the synopsis reads.
In a first person piece for Online mailAnholt described her suffering after an abusive relationship, adding that it left her “broken.”
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“I was completely lost. “The weight had fallen off me—three pounds in less than six months—so much so that I stopped having my period,” she wrote. “My arms were scarred by psoriasis. I hardly spoke to family and friends. I was addicted to a man who was poisoning me from the inside out.”
As well as acting, Anholt also appeared regularly on the ITV daytime show This morning, and led several public speaking masterclasses using techniques learned during her career as an actress and comedian.
In Anholt’s final Instagram post before her death, she revealed that she had been working on a fiction book published by indie publisher UCLan Publishing, whose imprint focuses on adult fiction and focuses on “books for women.”
“Among other things, we worked on this in silence,” Anholt’s caption read. “Watch this room, as they say.”