Soap opera star Marnie Schulenburg has died at the age of 37 after a two-year fight with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. Schulenberg died on Tuesday in a hospital in Bloomfield, New Jersey, her representative told The Hollywood Reporter. Schulenburg is best known for her roles as Alison Stewart on CBS' "As the World Turns" and Jo Sullivan on the "One Life to Live" reboot.
She is survived by her husband "Succession and Sorry for Your Loss" actor Zack Robidas and two-year-old daughter Coda. Schulenberg was diagnosed five months after Coda's birth in December 2019 and since then wasn't seen much in public.
Gone Too Soon
Schulenberg's husband Robidas confirmed her death on Facebook on Tuesday, urging friends not to says she "lost her battle to illness." "Please don't say Marnie lost her battle to cancer. It's simply not true. I watched her kick cancer's a-- everyday since diagnosis," Robidas wrote.
"She is incredible. We chose to attack her diagnosis with blind optimism. We only talked about the future and continued moving forward. I don't know if this was right but it's all we knew how to do."
The actress was undergoing treatment and was released from the hospital on Mother's Day, which would eventually be her final one. She celebrated Mother's Day with a touching Instagram post that included photographs of herself nurturing her two-year-old daughter Coda while her health deteriorated.
"It wasn't a guarantee that I was going to be home this Mother's Day," she wrote in her caption. "I got released late Friday night but had to be sent home with an oxygen machine."
"It's not my ideal to be a 38 year old Mom who needs an oxygen tank to survive right now," she wrote not knowing that she would die less than 10 days after that.
Leaving Behind Memories
Schulenberg would have turned 38 on May 21 but lost the battle just three days before that. In her last Instagram post, she wrote about her desire to survive. "I want to be strong and beautiful for [Coda]. I want to show her how to move throughout this world with compassion, strength, vivacity, humor and joy like my Mother showed me.
"I know that me being here for her is the best gift I can give her but right now it feels like settling since she's getting a half-life version of myself," she continued, adding that she hoped to give her daughter as much love and attention as her own mother had devoted to her.
Marnie was born and raised on the Cape Cod peninsula in Massachusetts. She attended Barnstable High School before attending DeSales University in Center Valley, Pennsylvania, where she earned a bachelor's degree in theatre in 2006.
Her acting career began with performances at the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival. Schulenburg shot to fame with her first television role as Alison Stewart in "As the World Turns." After Jessica Dunphy left the show in 2005, she was the second actress to take over the character.
In 2013, she returned to the show once it was adapted into a Hulu and iTunes series, which was again a hit with the audiences.
"As the World Turns" also starred Jake Silbermann, Elena Goode, Van Hansis and Alexandra Chando. Schulenburg was cast in the role permanently in 2007 and appeared on the show until it was discontinued in 2010.
The actress also appeared in guest roles on prominent primetime shows such as "Blue Bloods", "Army Wives", "Royal Pains", "Divorce", and "The Good Fight" in addition to her major roles. She portrayed Maggie Caysen on Showtime's drama "City On A Hill" earlier this year.
