Belgian actress Emilie Dequenne has died aged 43 of a rare cancer, her family and agent have revealed.
The award-winning actress 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.
By April 2024, Dequenne shared the uplifting news of her complete remission, expressing her determination to return to her career and to life as she knew it.
‘I was close to forgetting because I was leaving the hospital today after 13 days… What a tough battle,’ she wrote on social media.
But, tragically, her health took a turn for the worse when she suffered a relapse of her illness at the end of last year.
On December 1, she told French television show TF1 she was focusing on her health, and publicly acknowledged her deteriorating condition.
‘I know I will not live as long as planned,’ she said.
Belgian actress Emilie Dequenne, died aged 43 on Sunday following a battle with cancer of the adrenal gland
Belgian directors Luc (R) and Jean-Pierre Dardenne (R) and Belgian actress Emilie Dequenne (C) pose with the Palme d’or they received for their movie ‘Rosetta’, during the52nd Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, on May 23, 1999
Dequenne seen playing her character in The Missing, alongside Tcheky Karyo
Her first role in the ‘Rosetta’, by the Dardenne brothers, launched her career after she won best actress at the Cannes film festival in 1999 for her performance in the film, which also won the Golden Palm.
She then distinguished herself in different contexts with Brotherhood of the Wolf directed by Christophe Gans (2001), A Housekeeper by Claude Berri (2002), and The Very Merry Widows by Catherine Corsini (2003).
Dequenne also picked up a string of other awards in appearances in mainly French-language films, including the 2009 movie ‘The Girl on the Train’ and the 2012 drama ‘Our Children’.
In 2010, she attended the Cannes Film Festival with Franck Richard’s The Pack, a Special Screening.
But she then returned to the Cannes film festival in 2024 to mark the 25th anniversary of her triumph there with the Dardenne brothers, and to promote the English-language disaster movie, ‘Survive’, released the same year.
In an interview with The Action, Dequenne said she didn’t know she was sick when she filmed the movie.
Belgian actress Emilie Dequenne poses during a photocall for the film ‘Close’ at the 75th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 27, 202
The actress passed away Sunday in a hospital just outside Paris
It was the last film she appeared in before illness forced her to stop working.
Dequenne also said that her own experiences as a mother drew her to the movie, a dystopian drama that centers on a family.
‘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,’ she said.
‘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.’
She also added that the team built a type of family atmosphere for the children who also starred in the movie.
‘We had dinner together. When we came back, we were in the same car to go to the set. We were together, always together. And I still got them on the phone. Lisa, who plays my daughter, she’s become a very good friend to my daughter. Sometimes she comes home, she sleeps over, and we spend time together,’ Dequenne explained.
Émilie Dequenne was born on August 29, 1981, in Belgium.
She is survived by her husband, Michel Ferracci, and her daughter.