š HER FINAL WHISPERā¦ š¢ MEL SCHILLING USED HER LAST REMAINING STRENGTH TO SPEAK ONE FINAL MESSAGE TO HER DAUGHTER šļø A HEARTBREAKING GOODBYE THAT HAS LEFT MANY IN TEARS š¬ WHAT WERE THE WORDS SHE FOUGHT SO HARD TO SAY?
š HER FINAL WHISPERā¦ š¢ MEL SCHILLING USED HER LAST REMAINING STRENGTH TO SPEAK ONE FINAL MESSAGE TO HER DAUGHTER šļø A HEARTBREAKING GOODBYE THAT HAS LEFT MANY IN TEARS š¬ WHAT WERE THE WORDS SHE FOUGHT SO HARD TO SAY?
Mel Schillingās husband, Gareth Brisbane, poignantly revealed that she spent her āfinal momentsā sharing a last āmessageā to their young daughter.
The late Married at First Sight star died on Tuesday, aged 54, āsurrounded by loveā, just weeks after she publicly shared she had been diagnosed with terminal cancer.
She had first shared her colon cancer diagnosis with fans in December 2023 and, after surgery, was given the all-clear. In February 2024, however, she discovered the cancer had metastasised to her lungs and later her brain over Christmas 2025.
The Australian TV personality shared a 10-year-old daughter, Maddie, with her husband of six years, and he shared that it was for her that she used her āremaining strengthā just before her death.
āIn her final moments, when I thought cancer had taken away her ability to speak, she ushered me closer and whispered a message for Maddie and me that will sustain me for the rest of my life.
āIt took all of her remaining strength, and that gesture summed up our wee Melsie perfectly. Even then, her only thought was for Maddie and me.ā
Condolences have poured in from fans and friends, including former MAFS contestants and reality stars likeĀ Vicky Pattison.
Schilling helmed the Australian version of MAFS for 12 seasons and the UK spin-off for five seasons, carving her place as the āmatriarch of MAFSā.
But off-screen, she also enjoyed a rich personal life with her family.
How did Mel Schilling meet her husband?
The Australian-born psychologist spent her 30s ānot interested in anyoneā until she met her husband, Gareth, just before she turned 40, in 2011, on eHarmony.
In an interview with OK!, she said: āI was single for my entire thirties. I wasnāt interested in anyone. I was busy travelling the world, working overseas, I was all about building my business and just living a great life.
āAnd so we were both nearly 40 when we met, and he just turned my world upside down. I was not expecting that! We met on eHarmony.ā
Although Gareth is from Whitehead in Northern Ireland, he was living in Adelaide when they met while Schilling was based in Melbourne.
āWe did long distance for six weeks, which was really pivotal in the success of our relationship, because we didnāt physically meet for those six weeks, but we were communicating every day,ā she added.
After a ācommitment ceremonyā in Bali in 2018, the pair married in 2020, settling the UK to raise their daughter in recent years.
Very early in their relationship, they decided they wanted to have children and Schilling had previously been open about a miscarriage, which she called a āvery, very tough experienceā.
She added: āBut what it did for us is make us absolutely rock solid, so clear, that this was what we wanted. It gave us clarity.ā
When did Mel and Gareth welcome their daughter?
The pair then turned to IVF.
As Schilling had explained: āWe went down the IVF path, which was very successful for us. Maddie was one of the little eggs that was frozen for six weeks, then they popped her inside of me and boom, here she is. I had her when I was 42.ā
In 2024, when talking about her relationship dynamic with Gareth, she toldĀ WHO: āHe runs his own online business, and weāre two alphas, both very strong-willed! But weāre open to learning from each other as well.ā
In the same interview, she spoke about everything she was feeling on her wedding day.
āI had a bit of a cry on the day. Itās just the meaning of it all. I was a late bloomer in life, like, I didnāt meet my husband until I was nearly 40, and then we had our daughter when I was nearly 42, so to be finally saying our āI dosā was an emotional time. It was very special.ā
After her first diagnosis in 2023 where she went onto have 16 rounds of chemotherapy, she spoke about how her husband had been her ārockā.
She told OK!: āIt really does feel like a team, I can open up and be honest about how Iām feeling and we make adjustments at home to match that.
āWe have a non-traditional relationship, I guess, as Iām the one who goes out to work and he does the majority of parenting at home. It works well for us.ā
