TV personality and reality star Countess Patrizia De Blanck, known as the "Countess of the People" has died at the age of 85. The Italian star's daughter, actress Giada De Blanc, confirmed the news in a lengthy and heartbreaking social media post. She shared numerous images of herself with her mother throughout the years on Instagram as Whitney Houston's I Will Always Love You played over them. She captioned it with a touching tribute.

"With immense sorrow, I announce the death of my mother, Countess Patrizia De Blanck. My mother was an iconic figure, marking an era of elegance, romance and authenticity. With her, an irreplaceable chapter of my life and of an entire era closes. His courage, strength and light will live forever in me. I thank those who loved her. Rest in peace, Mom, forever in my heart. With so much difficulty, I write this message, I don't even have the strength to speak. Those who know me know that my mother was everything to me. We had a wonderful relationship: she was my best friend, my point of reference, my life," she sadly penned.

"I have dedicated my life to her with love, care, determination and dedication, and many times we have managed to win together and I have often managed to save her...This time, despite having done the impossible and fought with all my strength, it was not enough.

"I hoped, as other times, that we would have won this battle as warriors, as we have always won with the strength of love. I faced a very hard and painful path without collapsing, for me and for her, trying to give her strength and love until the end.

"By choice I lived everything in silence and confidentiality, in an extremely delicate and terrible moment for both of us, protecting her from everything, from her devastating illness and facing the pain away from everyone.

"I am deeply marked by this difficult and painful path and torn apart by a suffering that cannot be explained: a part of me has gone with her. I will live for two, that is the promise. I will live for her, who lives inside me and in my heart forever. Not even death can divide us," she concluded.

The socialite and star married British aristocrat, Baronet Anthony Leigh Milne in 1960 but the marriage lasted only a few months due to his adulter. In 1971, she married the Italian consul in Panama, Giuseppe Drommi, the father of her daughter. He died in 1999.

She began her television career in 1958 as one of two showgirls on the television programme Il Musichiere hosted by Mario Riva. Although she took a break from the screen for several decades, she returned to television in 2002 as a regular guest on Chiambretti c'è on Rai 2.

In 2005, she participated as a contestant in the reality show Il ristorante on Rai 1. She went on to appear on the Italian version of Celebrity Survivor, L'isola dei famosi, in 2008, making it to the semi-final before she was eliminated. She also appeared on Big Brother VIP, the Italian version of Celebrity Big Brother, in 2020.

Her celebrity was such that she played herself in two movies - Round Parentheses in 2006 and Christmas Holidays in Cortina in 2011.