Melanie Clark Pullen, who appeared in EastEnders in the 1990s, died at the age of 46 on 29 March 2022. Between 1997 and 1999, she portrayed Mary Flaherty, Pauline Fowler’s long-lost grandniece.
She was diagnosed with breast cancer in January of this year and passed away on March 29, 2022. She is survived by her spouse Simon and three children.
In 2019, the actress was diagnosed with breast cancer and began chemotherapy. During her therapy, it was revealed that she has the BRCA 2 gene, and she was advised to have a double mastectomy. Her ovaries and tubes were also removed, and she underwent five rounds of radiation.
“I got the all clear; I’m cancer free, which is great, so now it’s all about recovery,” she told The Irish News in 2020. However, in June 2021, she reported on her website that the cancer had returned, and she now had a brain tumor.
Mary Flaherty was the long-lost grandniece of Pauline Fowler, a show regular. In 1997, Pauline found she had a sister in Ireland, and the Fowlers traveled there to meet her.
Mary eventually returned to Walford and became close to Pauline and her cousin Mark. Mary departed in 1999 to relocate to Scotland with her father and his pregnant girlfriend, Ruth Fowler, after relationships with Joe Wicks and Matthew Rose.
