Watch: ‘Married with Children’ Actress Cindyana Santangelo Dead at 58
Television is mourning the loss of a star.
Cindyana Santagelo, the actress known for her work on Married… with Children, has died, according to multiple outlets. She was 58.
According to an advisory from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department cited by People, authorities responded to a medical emergency at Cindyana’s home in Malibu, California on March 24.
Shortly after the call, she was rushed to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead per TMZ, citing law enforcement. No cause of death has been confirmed, and an autopsy is pending. However, authorities learned that Cindyana received cosmetic injections prior to her death, according to TMZ, who was the first to report the news.
According to the advisory, per People, homicide investigators are investigating the model’s death, a “routinely” done process when the cause of death is unknown.
Cindyana’s death was mourned by her best friend Cynthia Abanuelos, who shared a series of pictures and reflected on their time together over the years.
“My heart aches as I write this. I’m still in shock and disbelief. How can you be gone?” she wrote in a joint Instagram post with Cindyana March 25. “I will feel your presence in every crashing wave, every salty breeze, and every shimmering reflection of the sun on the ocean’s surface. You were my best friend, my wifey, my kindred spirit. The most gorgeous mermaid in human form. Forever drawn to the sea.”
In addition to describing Cindyana’s sons Dante and Lucci as her friend’s “reason for living,” Cynthia continued of Cindyana, “Though you are no longer here in the way I wish you could be, I know you’re swimming in eternal waters, watching over us with that radiant smile. Every seashell I find, every wave kisses the shore, will be a reminder that you love is still around me.”
Cindyana’s career began in 1989 when she appeared as a dancer in Young Mc’s “Bust a Move” music video. Cindyana’s star rose, and her voice was used on Jane’s Addiction’s hit single, “Stop” a year later. Years later, frontman Perry Farrell would dub her “the Latin Marilyn Monroe in an interview with Spin Magazine.
In 1996, Cindyana appeared on Married…with Children in the role of dancer Sierra Madre, before going on to work on ER, and CSI: Miami. Her last onscreen appearance was in 2006,(no comma) on The Bo-Bo & Skippy Show.
Prior to her death, the model shared a picture of her two sons and gushed about their relationship.
“These to Goonies mean everything,” she wrote on the Feb. 3 Instagram post of her sons standing in front of a cake. “So amazing young men. Sweethearts, smart & gorgeous.”
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