Catherine O'Hara's Cause of Death Confirmed

While her representative initially shared that she died following a brief illness, official records have now provided a clearer picture of the health challenges the Schitt's Creek star was privately facing.

The official cause of death for Catherine O’Hara has been released, giving a clearer picture of the 71-year-old actress's condition before her passing.

O’Hara died on Friday, January 30, and her representative initially mentioned she passed away “after a brief illness.”

On Monday, February 9, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health confirmed that she died from a pulmonary embolism, or what is described as a blood clot in the lungs.

According to the death certificate, the underlying cause of the embolism was rectal cancer.

It was previously reported that O'Hara had been rushed to the hospital toward the end of January due to a serious condition and difficulty breathing.

After her death, her remains were cremated and given to her husband, Robert "Bo" Welch.

O’Hara was born in Toronto in 1954. She grew up with six siblings. Her acting journey began when she played the Virgin Mary in a school play, and then she found her footing at the Second City Theater in Toronto, where she first started as a waitress after high school.

O'Hara was known for her role as Macaulay Culkin’s mom in the first two "Home Alone" movies. Her role as Moira Rose on "Schitt's Creek" sealed her place in the industry as a multi-awarded actress.

When she accepted her Emmy in 2020, she was very grateful and shared how much the show meant to her. "I will forever be grateful to Eugene and Daniel Levy for the opportunity to play a woman of a certain age, my age, who gets to fully be herself,” she said.

Even in her later years, O'Hara maintained her prominence. She did guest spots on shows like "30 Rock" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm," and voiced characters in movies like "Frankenweenie" and "Elemental."

More recently, she appeared in "Argylle" and the second season of "The Last of Us." She even earned a recent Emmy nomination for her work in the Apple TV+ series "The Studio."

O'Hara had been living with a rare congenital condition called situs inversus with dextrocardia, where her heart was positioned at the right side of her chest, instead of the left.

She opened up about it in 2020, humorously saying, "I'm a freak," but that it didn't prevent her from having a normal life. In fact, she was living most of her life without any symptoms.

O’Hara leaves behind her husband and their two sons.