Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic

Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic(LOS ANGELES) — After an erroneous report from her rep claiming that she’d on Sunday — and a subsequent correction from Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles that she was still alive — The New York Times has now confirmed that actress Tanya Roberts died Monday night.

The news of her death was confirmed by Roberts’ longtime companion, Lance O’Brien. The former model and actress, born Victoria Leigh Blum, was 65.

According to her spokesman Mike Pingel, the cause of death was a “a urinary tract infection which spread to her kidney, gallbladder, liver and then blood stream.”

Roberts, who starred as Stacey Sutton alongside Roger Moore in the 1985 James Bond film A View To A Kill, and also appeared in Charlie’s Angels and That ’70s Show, reportedly collapsed while out walking her dogs on December 24 and was admitted to Cedars-Sinai.

O’Brien is the one who informed Roberts’ rep Pingel that she had “died in his arms” on Sunday night.  Pingel subsequently sent out a press release about her passing, only to have to walk back the information on Monday.  Pingel said Roberts was in fact still alive, but in grave condition. 

O’Brien told the New York Post that at the time, he truly believed Roberts had died, because he’d said goodbye to her and left her bedside without speaking to any medical staff. Then, on Monday, he got a call from the hospital saying she was still alive.

“I don’t want to blame [Pingel] in any way, shape or form,” O’Brien said. “I was in total shock, and I did say goodbye to her.’’

O’Brien also told the Post that Roberts died because she had an infection that “got out of control,” which was exacerbated by the fact that she’d had hepatitis C when she was younger.

“What happened was her kidneys degraded, her liver degraded, then her gall bladder degraded, then she got a blood infection in her entire body,” he explained.

By Stephen Iervolino
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