Sarah Harding has died due to breast cancer at the age of 39. The Girls Aloud singer's mother, Marie, shared the news on Sunday in a post to Harding's Instagram account, titled “A message from Sarah’s mum."
"It’s with deep heartbreak that today I’m sharing the news that my beautiful daughter Sarah has sadly passed away," Marie wrote. “Many of you will know of Sarah’s battle with cancer and that she fought so strongly from her diagnosis until her last day. She slipped away peacefully this morning.”
Marie extended gratitude to those who have supported her daughter, who revealed her illness in August 2020. “I’d like to thank everyone for their kind support over the past year," Harding's mom wrote. "It meant the world to Sarah and it gave her great strength and comfort to know she was loved.”
Marie also said that her daughter would want people to celebrate her memory for the person she was prior to her breast cancer diagnosis. “I know she won’t want to be remembered for her fight against this terrible disease,” she wrote. “She was a bright shining star and I hope that’s how she can be remembered instead.”
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Harding first shared that she was in treatment in an Instagram post just over a year ago, shortly after learning that the breast cancer she had been diagnosed with earlier in 2020 had spread. “Earlier this year I was diagnosed with breast cancer, and a couple of weeks ago I received the devastating news that the cancer has advanced to other parts of my body,” Harding wrote. “I’m currently undergoing weekly chemotherapy sessions and I am fighting as hard as I possibly can.” The U.K. artist added that she was doing her “very best to keep positive.”
In December 2020, Harding said that reading the many messages of love and support she received after sharing her illness had been a “huge source of strength for me" during a difficult time. “I can’t deny that things are tough right now but I’m fighting as hard as I possibly can and being as brave as I know how," she wrote on Instagram.
Harding also announced that she was almost done working on a memoir, titled Hear Me Out. “It came at such a good time for me as it’s given me something fun and positive to focus on while I’ve been stuck at home in between trips to the hospital for treatment,” she said.
In the book, published in March 2021, Harding shared details about her illness. She wrote that her doctor had told her in December that “the upcoming Christmas would probably be my last,” according to the BBC. “I'm at a stage now where I don't know how many months I have left,” Harding wrote. "Who knows, maybe I'll surprise everyone, but that's how I'm looking at things."
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Harding announced in March that she was donating the profits from the release of an old, never previously published song ("Wear It Like a Crown") to the Christie NHS Foundation, which funds The Christie cancer care and research center in England where Harding received treatment. “If you've read my book you'll know just how amazing the Doctors, Nurses and all the staff at The Christie are,” Harding wrote on Instagram. “They are actual angels.”
The center posted a tribute to Harding the day after her death: “We are deeply saddened by the passing of Christie patient and supporter, Sarah Harding. Sarah was extremely passionate about breast cancer research.”
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