Ant and Dec are "so very sad" to hear of the death of "one of a kind" Tara Palmer-Tomkinson.
The ‘I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!’ hosts worked with the late 45-year-old socialite – who is the goddaughter of Prince Charles – when she became one of the first celebrities to enter the Australian outback for the creepy crawly show in 2002 and have admitted they’re devastated by her recent passing and praised her for her "huge generous heart."
Taking to Twitter after the news broke on Wednesday (08.02.17) afternoon, the comedy duo wrote: "So very sad to hear of the passing of TP-T. She was a true one off with a huge, generous heart. Our thoughts are with her family #RIPTPT (sic)."
And it wasn’t just the Geordie presenters Tara had a lasting effect on as ‘Fame Academy’ judge Carrie Grant struck up a close friendship with the brunette beauty after she took part in the celebrity version of the talent show for Comic Relief in 2007.
Speaking on ‘Good Morning Britain’ on Thursday (09.02.17), Carrie, 51, said: "She was one of most genuine, kind souls, and one people we find out now all the different people giving to didn’t know about. Tara was diagnosed with autism in 2014 and viewing her through that lens, things make more sense. She had wonderful naivety but huge anxiety."
Tara was found dead at her luxurious penthouse in west London on Wednesday by a friend and, although her passing is "unexplained", police aren’t treating it as suspicious.
The beautiful star revealed last November that she had been diagnosed with a non-malignant brain tumour and thought it would kill her.
After her diagnosis last year, Tara’s outlook on life shifted and friends say she became "reclusive" and had started discussing how she wanted her funeral.
A friend explained: "Her health had left her in a really bad way and she was very low. She thought about death a lot and even discussed her funeral at points."
A post-mortem will be carried out on Tara’s body to determine her cause of death but, unless the examination comes back conclusive, toxicology tests will need to be undertaken to find out whether she had drugs in her bloodstream when she died.