Marianne Faithfull, the late singer and actress best known for her 1960s single “As Tears Go By,” died on January 30, 2025. She was 78 years old. As fans paid tribute to Faithfull, many wondered what her cause of death was since the news came as a shock. However, in the years leading up to her death, Faithfull had opened up about battling multiple health issues, from emphysema to breast cancer.
“Marianne passed away peacefully in London today, in the company of her loving family,” a statement from Faithfull’s spokesperson said, according to BBC. “She will be dearly missed.”
Learn more about Faithfull’s health and how she died below.
Throughout her life, Faithfull battled several health issues: bulimia, breast cancer, emphysema from smoking and pneumonia that resulted from COVID-19, according to BBC. The outlet reported that the U.K. native was hospitalized for 22 days after catching COVID in 2020.
Throughout the 2000s, Faithfull opened up in her memoir, Memories, Dreams and Reflections, about battling hepatitis C. In 2014, the British artist reportedly broke her hip, then later suffered from an infection at the prosthesis.
During a previous interview with The Guardian, Faithfull got candid about her past drug usage.
“I must have given up then or I wouldn’t have got into heroin,” she admitted. “It’s like wanting to kill yourself but I didn’t manage to. I realized that I couldn’t get out of it that easily. And if I didn’t do anything good my life would have been nothing to me. So, I got myself back.”
