Actress Lisa Robin Kelly dead at 43
Lisa Robin Kelly (an actress best known for her long-running role as Laurie Forman on “That ’70s Show”) died at age 43 on Wednesday.
Kelly had been staying at a rehab facility in California when she passed away in her sleep, according to TMZ.
Kelly’s agent told the gossip site that the actress had voluntarily checked herself into treatment during the past week.
“I spoke to her on Monday and she was hopeful and confident, looking forward to putting this part of her life behind her” – Kelly’s agent, Craig Wyckoff, told People. “Last night she lost the battle. Cause of death has not been issued yet and no death certificate has been issued either.”
Lisa Robin Kelly.
Kelly died at a rehab facility while attempting to battle her demons, her agent tells TheWrap.
“Unfortunately Lisa Robin Kelly passed away last evening. Lisa had voluntarily checked herself into a treatment facility early this week where she was battling the addiction problems that have plagued her these past few years” – the agent told TheWrap on Thursday. “I spoke to her on Monday and she was hopeful and confident, looking forward to putting this part of her life behind her. Last night she lost the battle.”
A cause of death has not yet been released.
Since exiting the series in 2003 – she was replaced by Christina Moore for the show’s sixth season – Kelly had grabbed more headlines for her legal troubles than her acting career. The actress was arrested in November 2012 for allegedly assaulting her husband in North Carolina, which followed a charge of corporal injury on a spouse in March of that year. Those charges were dropped.
Kelly portrayed Laurie Forman, sister of Topher Grace’s lead character Eric, on the Fox series. It concluded in 2006.
Unlike some of her co-stars (Grace, Ashton Kutcher and Laura Prepon) Kelly fell out of the spotlight after appearing on the sitcom until she started making headlines for personal troubles.
She was arrested in November along with husband Robert Joseph Gilliam in connection with a disturbance at their home in Mooresville, N.C.
In June, she was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving after her car stalled in Burbank, Calif.