Actress Jessica Marais mourns loss of mother Karen

Actress Jessica Marais is mourning the death of her mother, Karen, who passed away over the weekend.

Jessica’s friend and Packed to the Rafters co-star Hugh Sheridan confirmed the heartbreaking news in an Instagram post on Tuesday.

‘I’m grieving for my dearest and sweetest friend, who has now lost both of her parents far too young,’ he wrote.

Jessica, 35, had previously shared a childhood throwback photo to Instagram on Saturday, which showed her at the beach with her late mother and sister, Clara.

While she did not disclose her mother’s death in the caption, several of her friends and followers offered their condolences.

The Marais sisters had previously watched their father collapse and die from a heart attack when Jessica was just nine.

Actor Hugh, who met Jessica while studying at university, shared his fond memories of Jessica’s late mother Karen and said how proud she was of her.

‘We’ve helped each other through our lives changing in so many ways. Our wins and highs met extreme lows sometimes, but we always made it through.

‘I can’t tell you how s**t I feel knowing I can’t hug you right now. To have distance between us when I want to be with you,’ Hugh wrote from Los Angeles. 

‘I love you Jess. I’ll be back very soon and I will hug you for a very long time (after I get lot of quarantine),’ he promised. 

Hugh also quoted The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost, ending it with hashtags ‘you have made all the difference’, ‘long live our queen’ and ‘long may we continue’. 

Jessica co-parents seven-year-old daughter Scout Edie with ex-fiance and actor James Stewart.

James went on to marry Home and Away co-star Sarah Roberts in 2019, while Jessica was last linked to photographer Jake Holly.

In 2011, Jessica admitted she was haunted and pained by her father’s death, and lived in fear of losing other loved ones in the same way. 

In an interview with News.com.au, the actress credited her late mother Karen at the time as being the one who ‘pulled us [the family] through a very hard time’. 

The Logie-winner said of her father’s death: ‘It’s sort of something you relive I think, everyone that has lost someone… you relive it every day. It feels fresh, but obviously time does heal a lot of wounds and I’m definitely much better at coping with it now.’ 

It has been a tough year for mother-of-one Jessica. Four months ago, emergency crews were called to her home in Sydney’s eastern suburbs for a welfare check. 

On the afternoon of Saturday, May 2, she was walked to an ambulance where she was put on a gurney and taken to the Prince of Wales Hospital in Randwick.

A witness told Daily Mail Australia she was not wearing any shoes, her hair was a ‘dishevelled mess’ and she was in a ‘visibly distressed state’.

Fortunately, she appeared happy and healthy several weeks later as she spent time with her Packed to the Rafters co-star Hugh Sheridan.

In June, Jessica also shared a heartfelt open letter about ‘loneliness and growth’ following her hospitalisation. 

That month, her former co-star Rebecca Gibney addressed Jessica’s personal struggles and departure from the Packed to the Rafters reboot for the first time.

The New Zealand-born actress, 55, revealed that while the 35-year-old had her ‘struggles’, she would inevitably bounce back and ‘surprise them all’ both personally and professionally.

She told TV Week: ‘[Jessica] is doing really well and I’m in constant contact with her. She is truly one of those unique talents!’  

In 2014, Jessica spoke about being diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

‘I was diagnosed at one point with bipolar. I have developed ways to talk myself down from any ledges I find myself on,’ she told The Australian Women’s Weekly.

‘There’s probably one day a month when I am an absolute mess. In my case it’s hard to separate what is due to trauma or stress and what is due to a simple chemical imbalance.’