Award-winning actress dies from rare cancer aged 43
17 March 2025, 09:40
Award-winning Belgian actress Emilie Dequenne has died aged 43 of a rare cancer, her family and agent revealed.
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The actress - who starred in BBC drama The Missing as police officer Laurence Relaud - passed away Sunday in a hospital just outside of Paris.
She revealed in October 2023 that she was suffering from adrenocortical carcinoma, a cancer of the adrenal gland.
She died on Sunday at a hospital near Paris. The actress rose to fame in the filmRosetta, for which she won Best Actress at the Cannes film festival .
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Dequenne went on to win a number of other awards for her French language films. Her last film was the English language movie Suirvive.
After being diagnosed with the cancer in 2023, she revealed she had been given the all-clear in April 2024 and hoped to return to normality after the ordeal.
However, the cancer returned at the end of last year with Dequenne telling French TV: “'I know I will not live as long as planned”.
Her last posts include passionate dedications thanking her husband Michel Ferracci for his support.
The couple were married in 2014. Dequenne leaves behind a 22-year-old daughter, Milla Savarese, also an actor.
In one of her final posts, the star wrote about a “tough fight” as she shared: “Today is World Cancer Day. Almost forgot, as I was leaving the hospital today after 13 days. What a tough fight! And we don't choose.
“Just writing these few words is an oversized effort. (By the way, sorry to those whose wishes I didn't answer, while it's February)THANK YOU again to my family (@michelferracci who had the worst night ever), my amazing parents, my friends.”
