Shock death of Laan actress Bronwyn van Graan
Loved ones of 7de Laan’s Bronwyn van Graan are devastated by the pregnant actress’ shock death
SHE was a successful actress, happily married to the man she loved and eager to fulfil her biggest dream – to become a mom. But the new life she so longed for ended up costing Bronwyn van Graan her own life, leaving her husband and parents stunned and heartbroken.
Bronwyn, who’d had a miscarriage two years ago, had an ectopic pregnancy (see box) – and the bubbly 39-year-old died alone on the floor of her Johannesburg flat recently after suffering catastrophic internal bleeding.
The death of the actress, who played a social worker on 7de Laan, has shattered her former colleagues on the soapie.
Vinette Ebrahim, who plays Charmaine in the show, expressed her sorrow on Facebook. “The empty space you’ve left behind will be sorely felt,” she wrote. “Thank you for being the beautiful soul you were. Fly with the angels, sweetheart.”
Bronwyn had a steady stream of acting jobs and even appeared in the BBC series Holby City. She was an acclaimed stage actress too and won a Naledi Theatre prize for her role in the play Shirley, Goodness and Mercy in 2007.
On the weekend of her death she was due to record a final episode for a radio soapie on the station RSG.
But when her husband, Grant Spreadbury (37), tried to call her that morning there was no answer.
Grant, a DJ for special events, was with Bronwyn’s parents at their home in Bellville, Cape Town. He and Bronwyn were due to move to the Western Cape and she was still in their flat in Northwold, Joburg, with their beloved pitbull, Manny, while she finished up her work.
Now Grant has the grim task of packing up the flat they lived in for eight years.
He’s too heartbroken to speak to us but Bronwyn’s parents, Felicia (66) and Terry (65), welcome us into their home, where a picture of their smiling daughter is propped up on a table alongside a bunch of pink and white flowers.
“As a parent you don’t expect to bury your child,” Felicia says tearfully. “It should be the other way around.”
Bronwyn and Grant were planning to stay with his parents in the town of Swellendam while they built a new life for themselves in the pretty Overberg town.
Now Grant is alone with Manny, who’s battling to understand why his “mom” isn’t coming home.
“He’s in mourning,” Felicia says. “He’s struggling to settle at night and calms down only when he’s given one of Bronwyn’s jerseys to sleep with.”
GRANT mentioned to his parents-in-law that Bronwyn seemed to be suffering from morning sickness and was nauseous and tired, but Felicia says her daughter seldom complained about anything.
“I often confided in her if I was having problems but she was always upbeat. I called her after Grant told us she wasn’t feeling well but she said she was all right.”
Bronwyn had an iron deficiency but was otherwise healthy, Felicia adds.
“She loved children and badly wanted
to be a mom. After her miscarriage two years ago she was very upset.”
She poured all her maternal love into Manny, her dad adds, and even created an Instagram account for him.
Then she started to suspect she was pregnant again, and she and Grant dared to hope their dream of becoming parents might come true. Instead, tragedy followed. Felicia and Terry were in church when they received a message from a family member telling them to go home immediately.
“Initially we were told Bronwyn had collapsed but when we got to the house we found out our daughter was dead,” Felicia says. “Everything fell apart.”
When Grant hadn’t been able to get hold of his wife, who was just a few weeks pregnant, he’d asked a friend to check up on her. Bronwyn always kept the door to the flat a little bit open for Manny to get in and out so when the friend’s knocking went unanswered he walked in – and found her sprawled on the floor of the bathroom.
Paramedics were called but it was too late. They estimated that by then Bronwyn had been dead for four hours.
Grant, his dad, Robert, and Bronwyn’s parents left for Johannesburg straightaway.
“The four of us cried all the way there,” Felicia says. “It was awful thinking what was waiting for us on the other side.”
They went straight to the flat where they found Manny running up and down in anguish.
Bronwyn’s body had been taken to the morgue in Milpark and the family managed to get closure when they went to identify her remains.
“She looked as if she were sleeping. She looked so beautiful,” Felicia recalls.
“It was good to see her and also to see that she had no marks on her body after she’d fallen in the bathroom.”
The family later found a message Bronwyn had written to a colleague on her phone – and it was clear all hadn’t been well.
“She said she’d had to lie down all day,” Felicia says, referring to the day before Bronwyn’s death. “She said she wasn’t feeling well and felt as if she was slipping in and out of a trance.”
BRONWYN’S body was flown to Cape Town for the funeral, which was held at the Church of the Transfiguration in Bellville. Friends, family and colleagues – among them 7de Laan’s Christo Davids, who also appeared with her in Shirley, Goodness and Mercy – packed the church to the rafters.
Felicia and Terry – who have an older child, son Clem (48) – are battling to pick up the pieces of their lives now.
“Every now and again we break down,” Felicia says. “Everyone says I’m being strong but I keep getting these beautiful messages about Bronwyn from people who loved her. I know they mean well but they break my heart each time.”
Terry will miss everything about his daughter. “Her stories, her cheerfulness, how she could joke about anything and the times she woke me up with coffee in the morning when she was visiting us,” he says, his eyes welling up.
Everything reminds Felicia of Bronwyn now – even bananas.
“I always kept overripe ones for her so she could make banana bread for us when she came to visit. I’ll miss that.
“I miss her so much.”