The Daily Mail has reported the 53-year-old star was suffering from a rare and aggressive form of cancer when she suddenly died on Wednesday at Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.
Wilson - who is survived by her husband, Chris Woods and her teenage son Digby - reportedly chose to keep her cancer secret with only her closest friends and family aware of her health battle. It’s understood she was in hospital for approximately two weeks before her death with entertainment reporter Peter Ford suggesting the cancer was in or around her lungs.
The news outlet reported Wilson was in Sydney at the time of her death to film The Great Australian Bake Off, and was rushed to hospital after she collapsed on the set.
Wilson’s co-star Darren Purchase - who is a judge on the show - paid tribute to his late friend on Instagram writing that she was “very sick” the last time he saw her.
“Cal was a light and such a joyful good person, funny and the kindest,” he wrote. “This is so unfair, and I will never forget my precious time with Cal.”
Speaking rather candidly about the last time he saw the comedian, he said, “I am sorry this has happened to such a good person, and I cannot get out of my head the last time I saw her when she was very sick.”
It comes after a heartbreaking interview recorded months before she passed resurfaced this morning revealing how she would like her son to remember her.
Appearing on Adam Miller’s Bakeology podcast in August, the comedian was asked, “What do you think Digby will remember you for?”
“I think it will be for pancakes because that’s a fairly regular weekend thing,” the comedian replied in regards to her legacy, adding, “And when you serve the pancakes you throw them like a frisbee, the first couple, and then if you’re going to have maple syrup on them obviously you don’t do that.
“You always do the test pancake – hurl it across the kitchen.”
Wilson went on to say she believed her son would also choose to remember their gingerbread baking sessions, joking, “We make a lot of gingerbread together. Well, we start making it together and he goes off with the lump of dough as any good child should.”
Wilson’s death was confirmed yesterday by her management company Token Artists, revealing she had passed away after a “short illness” at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney.
Cal Wilson's son, Digby, has rarely been shared on her social media channels since he was a little boy. Photo / Instagram
Wilson moved to Melbourne in 2003 to star in the sketch show, Skithouse. She went on to become one of Australia’s best-known comedians with appearances on Spicks and Specks, Good News Week, Would I Lie To You and in her own Netflix stand-up special.
She became a fixture on the Australian comedy circuit, performing in the Melbourne Comedy Festival 14 times. She eventually became a member of its board.
In 1997, she became one of the inaugural winners of the Billy T Award, presented annually during the NZ International Comedy Festival.
