Catherine O'Hara: authorities release official cause of death

Catherine O'Hara's devastating details about her death has been disclosed.

The Canadian actress left her fans shocked and heartbroken with her sudden death on January 30.

She was at her home in Los Angeles after being hospitalised early in the morning with an illness. Her agency CAA said that O'Hara died after dealing with a "brief illness."

Initially fans assumed that has passed away after suffering from rare congenital condition where her internal organs were reversed, essentially on the “other side” or mirrored from typical anatomy.

The comedian star has made it public in interviews back around 2021 and earlier.

Now as per TMZ, after obtaining her death certificate, the real cause of death was pulmonary embolism, with rectal cancer as an underlying condition.

O'Hara's career spanned more than 50 years, beginning with a Canadian sketch show , Second City Television, for which she won her first-ever Emmy for writing.

Later she went on star as Delia Deetz, the stepmother of Winona Ryder's Lydia in Tim Burton's 1988's Beetlejuice, she reprised the role in its 2024 sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

She was widely known for her role in Home Alone, playing mother (Kate McCallister) of Macaulay Culkin (Kevin).

Both the actors shared a close bond throughout her life with Culkin paying tribute to her in his Instagram post by calling her "Mama."

She also appeared in The Last of Us and The Studio, nabbing two Emmy nominations in 2025.

Her last public appearance was at Apple TV+'s Primetime Emmy Party red carpet on September 14, 2025.

O'Hara is survived by her husband Bo Welch, whom she married in 1992, and their two sons Matthew and Luke.

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