Reality Star Mel Schilling Has Passed Away

The "Married At First Sight" star used her final strength to give a message to her family. The TV expert fell seriously ill two years ago. Mel Schilling, widely known as an expert on the reality series "Married At First Sight," died on Tuesday after a two-year battle with cancer. The Australian TV star was only 54 years old. Schilling was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2023. Earlier this March, she announced that the cancer had spread to her brain and that doctors could no longer treat the disease. "Melanie Jane Brisbane-Schilling passed away peacefully today, surrounded by love," her husband, Gareth Brisbane, said in a statement according to The Guardian. Confirming her passing on Instagram, Gareth spoke about Mel's final moments with their ten-year-old daughter, Maddie. "In her final moments, when I thought the cancer had taken away her ability to speak, she waved me closer and whispered a message to Maddie and me that will carry me for the rest of my life," he wrote. "It took all her remaining strength, and that gesture perfectly encapsulated our little Melsie. Even then, she was only thinking of Maddie and me," he added. Despite undergoing two years of chemotherapy, Schilling never missed a day of filming, according to her husband. "She never complained and never stopped showing courage, compassion, and empathy," he said. Schilling served as an expert on the Australian version of "Married At First Sight" for 12 seasons and also appeared in five seasons of the British version on Channel 4. Channel 4 described her as someone who "radiated joy, warmth, and optimism." "To most, she was Mel Schilling, matriarch of MAFS and queen of reality TV. To Maddie and me, she was our little Melsie: an incredible mother, role model, and soulmate," her husband wrote in his tribute.