Kaitlyn Dever is mourning the loss of her mother, Kathy Dever, who died following a years-long battle with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer.
The 27-year-old actress, who was recently cast in the upcoming second season of HBO's The Last of Us, offered a heartbreaking tribute to her late mom in an Instagram post shared on Wednesday.
"My mama. My life. My everything," she began her caption. "I don’t even have the words. Nothing I’ll ever say will amount to the gifts you have given me in my life, the boundless joy you brought, the deep, endless, unconditional love you gave me and our family. Your love was everywhere. It was in the morning having coffee with you and shopping on the real real, it was sitting out by the pool eating watermelon(with salt on it of course) and listening to Willie Nelson, it was laying in your bed with you watching Seinfeld and listening to your infectious laugh as you recited every line from memory, it was making fun of each other, it was getting to tell you about my day, it was getting the best advice from you anyone would be so lucky to recieve, it was going places with you because no matter where we were..we were having fun and laughing. Your love was like sunshine, warmed me when I needed it the most and made me smile when I was ever sad. You were everyone’s favorite. You are my favorite. The sweetest in the world. I will be broken forever without you and I don’t know how I’ll go on. I’m grateful that you gave me Mady, Jane, and Dad…we’ll always have each other to lean on because of you. You were the greatest mom and wife anyone could ever ever ask for. Thank you for fighting so hard for us for so long. I am forever, forever, grateful for the special time we got to spend with you, sweet mama…it will never be enough."
She continued, "I miss your smile, your sense of humor, your hugs, your kisses, getting to hold your hand, more than anything in the world. You made everything better. My sweetest, beautiful girl. My best friend. Oh how much I love you. What a gift it is to love you. I love you forever and ever, Mom. ❤️"
Her touching words were accompanied by a carousel of images, including one of the star as a young child on her mom's lap as they sat on a park bench. In another shot, they posed together on the night of the actress' Ticket to Paradise 2022 premiere. The carousel also included a mix of recent and throwback family photos.
Riley Keough -- who lost her own mother, Lisa Marie Presley, last year -- offered her condolences in a comment. "Lots of love to you and your family ❤️," she wrote.
Back in 2020, Dever opened up about her mother's health struggles in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October. At the time, it had been 10 years since Kathy's diagnosis.
"This is me and my mama:) She has been battling Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer for 10 years now. She was diagnosed at 39 years old and everyday since has been a terrifying battle," the Booksmart star wrote on social media. "Some days are so so scary that I don’t even know how to feel anymore, and other days she has a positive appointment and then it’s a gooood day❤️ Every day is different and we’ve gotten through it together as a family. She is the strongest woman I know and every day I am grateful for the doctors that have taken such good care of her over the years. I haven’t talked about this a lot but I wanted share a little bit of her story to remind everyone that it is very important to get yourself checked frequently and fund research when you can. Research shows that 115 men and women die every day from metastatic breast cancer. Over time, MBC cells can become resistant, resulting in more cancer in the body and the need to change drugs. @metavivor is a great place to donate to MBC research and learn more about the disease. My mom is doing so much better than she was at the beginning. I’m the luckiest girl in the world to have a mama like her. Cancer is so unbearably scary. I can’t even begin to imagine what it’s like to live with this disease but I do know what it’s like to watch someone you love go through the pain. My heart is with anyone has to deal with the burden that is cancer. Let’s get checked and encourage those we love to get checked as well."
Dever is best known for her roles on Tim Allen's Last Man Standing, but most recently starred in Taika Waititi's Next Goal Wins, Hulu's No One Will Save You, and Schitt's Creek star Dan Levy's Good Grief on Netflix. Her previous credits include the movies Ticket to Paradise and Booksmart, the film adaptation of Dear Evan Hansen, and the Hulu mini-series Dopesick.
Next, she'll star as Abby Anderson in the Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey-led The Last of Us.
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