Antiques Roadshow’s Theo Burrell Dies 4 Months After Her Wedding

Celebrity Deaths 2026: Catherine O’Hara, Eric Dane & More Fallen Stars

Theo Burrell’s legacy will live on.

The British antiques specialist and auctioneer—who appeared on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow—died following a years-long battle with glioblastoma, a form of brain cancer, her family confirmed. She was 39.

“Theo passed away peacefully surrounded by her family on Wednesday afternoon,” a July 12 post to Burrell’s Instagram shared. “Neither she nor her medical team foresaw this happening quite so quickly.”

“She was an incredible person who fought hard for her family, friends and raising awareness of this cruel disease,” her loved ones continued. “She saw life events like her son's first day at school and her wedding that a little over 4 years ago we thought she'd never see.”

Indeed, in April Burrell revealed that she and her partner Alex tied the knot in a March ceremony surrounded by their closest family and friends.

“It was amazing,” Burrell wrote on social media at the time. “Not only did we have a lot of fun but it feels so nice to be husband and wife after all these years together.”

Since her diagnosis in 2022, Burrell shared candid updates with her followers and fans about her health journey in an effort to raise awareness and further research efforts for glioblastoma.

On June 27, the TV personality marked four years since her diagnosis with an honest look into the toll her disease had taken on her physical and mental health.

Theo Burrell/Instagram

“Like other GBM patients I was expected to live for 12-18 months,” she wrote in her caption. “In the wake of that news I had many dark thoughts including that I wouldn't see my son's 2nd birthday let alone him starting school, but I'm lucky enough to say I did! And no one can take that away from me.”

Burrell had undergone a second brain surgery in January and, at the time of her post, was dealing with side effects such as loss of some peripheral vision while preparing for a scan to check on any disease progression.

“Of course the next scan looms but I've dug deep and found a new bit of determination (which does not always come easy) to say to the GBM 'I will not give up,’” she wrote. “Whatever the results, I'll take stock, trust my oncologist and go from there.”

And like in many of her updates, Burrell made sure to provide hope and connection to anyone else navigating glioblastoma.

“So if you're in the brain cancer world along with me - you're not alone and we've just got to take it slowly but surely,” she wrote. “Every day we make is a bit of a win for us and a 'GET LOST!' to the illness!”

Theo Burrell/Instagram

Because, as her loved ones noted following Burrell’s passing, “The cancer community provided so much comfort and strength to her in her darkest moments. But most of all it provided hope and I think what she would want most of all is for other people to find hope in her story.”

And though research didn’t progress in time to save Burrell’s life, she took comfort in knowing her efforts might improve the lives of others like her in the future.

“I am running out of treatment options and I will lose my life to this cancer,” she said in a March video for the Department of Health and Social Care which advocated for more government-funded cancer research in the United Kingdom. “There’s absolutely no doubt about it.”

“Things may be too late for me,” she added, “but I definitely can make peace with that if I know that the situation’s gonna be better for future patients.”

For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News App