Jill Jacobson, who was best known for projects such as Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, died on December 8, 2024, multiple outlets reported. She was 70 years old. Jacobson revealed earlier this year that she had been batting a form of cancer but chose to keep it under wraps.
Hollywood Life explains everything we know about Jacobson’s health and cause of death, below.
Jill Jacobson’s Health
In September 2024, Jacobson unveiled the “secret” she had been hiding for years — her battle with esophageal cancer. The late actress explained her health issue during an appearance on The Jim Masters Show.
“It’s been a secret. Kind of took me out of the game for a while,” Jacobson began. “It was esophageal cancer. It took like two, two and a half years of treatment.”
While adding that her experience “was pretty intense,” Jacobson also described how it felt living with the illness.
“You can’t function, you just can’t function,” the Falcon Crest alum said. “And now I’m so grateful, I just want to keep going, I want to help people. It makes you want to help people.”
What Is Esophageal Cancer?
Esophageal cancer is a growth of harmful cells in the esophagus, which connects the throat to the stomach, per Mayo Clinic. Living with the illness makes it difficult to swallow food and liquids. There are no preventative measures to take to avoid esophageal cancer, and treatment typically involves surgically removing the tumor from a patient’s esophagus.
How Did Jill Jacobson Die?
Jacobson’s team did not mention her esophageal cancer while announcing her death. However, the late actress’ friend and publicist, Daniel Harary, confirmed to Variety that Jacobson died following a “long illness.”
In a statement obtained by Entertainment Weekly, Jacobson’s manager, Ben Padua, paid tribute to her.
“We are incredibly sad to say ‘goodbye’ to our beautiful, soulful, hysterically funny, elegantly raunchy client, Jill Jacobson,” the statement read. “Jill was a total spitfire of an actress with comedic timing straight out of a Marx Brothers’ flick and Hollywood glamor right from its golden age. Jill took us on so many adventures, and she was an absolute blast. Thank you, Jill. We’ll see you in our dreams.”
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