Lisa Robin Kelly, who starred on That ’70s show as Eric’s flirtatious older sister, has died at the age of 43.
According to Lisa’s publicist, the recovering alcoholic went into cardiac arrest while sleeping at a California rehabilitation facility on August 14.
“She had been fighting demons for a while and finally lost her battle,” the publicist confirmed to TMZ.
We last reported on Lisa in June when she was arrested for her fourth time within four years.
Many of Lisa’s offenses were related to disputes with her estranged husband, Robert Gilliam. He recently served 35 days in jail for domestic battery of Lisa.
Lisa checked into her last rehabilitation facility on Monday, after she was dropped off by her new boyfriend. Her death will likely raise questions about the facility and how it goes about detoxification of patients: Unlike with opiates, withdrawals from chronic alcohol abusers can be fatal.
According to WebMD, alcohol withdrawal syndrome delirium tremens (DTs) generally set in within 48 to 72 hours of alcohol cessation.
Sources report needle marks were found on Lisa’s arms, but her boyfriend claims those were caused by nurses’ attempts to extract blood from her arms when he brought her to the hospital on Sunday. He said she had a 0.34 blood alcohol level that day.
Our thoughts are with Lisa’s family and friends. No matter the person’s history, losing a person so young is always tragic.
