Australian actress Rachael Carpani, known for her work on NCIS: Los Angeles, has died at age 45 following a battle with chronic illness. Carpani's sister Georgia shared a statement from family via Instagram on Monday, December 15, announcing her death. "It is with great sadness that Tony and Gael Carpani announce that their beautiful daughter, beloved Australian actress Rachael Carpani, unexpectedly but peacefully passed away after a long battle with chronic illness, in the early hours of Sunday 7th December," the statement read. "The funeral will be a private event, to be held on Friday 19th December with close family and friends." The message continued, "The family requests privacy at this very difficult time and will be making no further statements." Stars Who Have Tragically Lost Their Significant Others Through the Years Australian TV fans got to know Carpani as Jodi Fountain on the series McLeod's Daughters. She starred on nearly 180 episodes of the drama, which aired for eight seasons from 2001 to 2009. Carpani eventually made her way to the U.S. and landed a role on the CBS pilot Law Dogs with Janeane Garofalo. The show was not picked up to series. In 2009, Carpani found success on NCIS: Los Angeles in a small role alongside Chris O'Donnell and LL Cool J. She also appeared in the movie Triangle with Liam Hemsworth. Carpani later starred on A&E's The Glades and Lifetime's Against the Wall, as well as several TV movies, including 2015's If There Be Thorns and Seeds of Yesterday. In 2024, Carpani joined the Australian hit Home and Away as Claudia Salini. The Most Shocking Celebrity Deaths of All Time: Diane Keaton and More Months before her death, Carpani celebrated her milestone 45th birthday in August. She joked in an Instagram post marking the occasion that she's "always been suspicious of birthdays," sharing a throwback photo from her childhood. "My family and friends had no trouble ignoring me and my 'non-birthday' rule. (I couldn't wrap my head around having a 'celebration' of anything to do with myself)," Carpani wrote in her lengthy caption. "But despite existing in this waking nightmare of a world losing its humanity ..... you all reminded me how much we should treasure what we have. ❤️❤️❤️ And against the current backdrop, how enormously grateful we should all be, everyday." Carpani continued, "Thankyou for bringing joy and ridiculous into my world, even for a day or two...didn't realise how much I needed it, or how much I would love all that love.🥰 Thankyou for the hugs, the gifts, the fries 🍟 (instead of cake), to my beautiful LA angels for the 2am FaceTimes 😂, for the texts , the posts, the HB comments on my page, the 6 voicemails I found of friends eerily singing Happy Birthday 😆, and basically anyone who took the time to wish me a very merry un birthday.... thankyou. This year it really meant a lot ☺️☺️☺️." The actress previously opened up about her health in 2021, sharing an Instagram video about her experience with endometriosis and adenomyosis. "I consider myself VERY lucky that I have now found two incredible specialists ... they BELIEVED me from the moment I met them. They gave me a voice, and non-judgemental space to voice the fact that I had been in chronic pain basically since I was 13...but that I had been patted on the head and told 'that's what every woman feels like' and 'that's just called a painful period,'" she wrote in the caption. Celebrity Deaths of 2025: General Hospital's Anthony Geary and More Stars We've Lost Carpani noted that with the help of her doctors, she "went from a 8-9 on the pain scale which I would deal with for 2 decades using heat pads / ice baths/ acupuncture and paracetamol/panadol ...and a big smile plastered on my face ...none of which worked btw ... To now ...at which I am about a 2-3 on the pain scale ...which I consider PAIN free 🙌🙏🙌." Earlier that year, Carpani revealed to her Instagram followers that she was briefly hospitalized. "I was admitted to emergency with acute abdominal pain just over a week ago and spent a few days in the ICU. Was then moved to the surgical ward. Basically it was a case of me not listening to my body and the pain (I tend to work through pain!!) and allowing myself to get quite ill. ... I will make a full recovery and should be up and running in a few days!" she wrote at the time, thanking her family, doctors and nurses for their support.