MadameNoire
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Actress Natalie Deselle-Reid, known for her work in films like B.A.P.S. and How to Be a Player, as well as the UPN series Eve, passed away on Monday morning. She was 53 years old.
The news was shared on the star’s Instagram page on Monday afternoon.
“It is with extremely heavy hearts that we share the loss of our beautiful Natalie this morning,” the message read. “She was a bright light in this world. A queen. An extraordinary mother and wife.
Her diverse career touched so many and she will be loved forever. Naturally, we are grieving and processing this profound loss and we thank you in advance for respecting our privacy at this extremely difficult time.”
No further information regarding a cause of death was shared, per the request for privacy in the statement. However, TMZ reported that a family member revealed to them that she died from colon cancer after being diagnosed with the disease earlier this year. Actor Chadwick Boseman recently passed away in August from the same form of cancer.
Prior to that message, the news was shared earlier in the afternoon by actress Holly Robinson-Peete.
“Just absolutely decimated by this news… Actress Natalie Desselle, a bright shining star passed away this morning,” she wrote. “I got to know her when my mom was managing her. She will be so missed…sending out prayers to her children and husband. Rest In Peace, Sweet Girl.”
Deselle-Reid, as mentioned, was best known for her work as Mickey alongside Halle Berry‘s Nisi in the 1997 comedy B.A.P.S. She also appeared in the TV movie Cinderella as one of the stepsisters to Brandy‘s Cinderella. From there, she appeared on the shows For Your Love and Eve, the latter starring rapper Eve Jeffers and lasting for three seasons. Her most recent works included Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family and a project called Queen Victoria’s Wedding. She also appeared on episodes of ABC cooking show The Chew as a guest host.
