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‘Desperate Housewives’ and ‘Young Sheldon’ Star Valerie Mahaffey Dead at 71

CultureCelebs
By Craig Garrett
May 31, 2025 | 7:46 a.m. CDT
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Photo by Stewart Cook/Shutterstock

Valerie Mahaffey, the Emmy-winning actress best known for her roles in Northern Exposure, Desperate Housewives, and Young Sheldon, has passed away.

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Mahaffey’s husband, Joseph Kell, revealed to Variety that she passed away on Friday following a battle with an unspecified cancer.

“I have lost the love of my life, and America has lost one of its most endearing actresses. She will be missed,” Kell said in a heartfelt tribute, according to the outlet.

Jillian Roscoe, Mahaffey’s publicist, also confirmed the news of her passing to The Hollywood Reporter.

Mahaffey was 71.

Mahaffey was born in Indonesia and raised there until age 11. She lived in Nigeria and England before settling in Austin, Texas, where she completed high school and attended the University of Texas.

Mahaffey began her acting career on Broadway in New York City during the late 1970s. She appeared in six Broadway productions, including Dracula and Play Memory, both directed by Harold Prince, according to THR.

While performing on Broadway, Mahaffey also appeared on the NBC soap The Doctors as Ashley Bennett, a role that earned her a Daytime Emmy nomination from 1979 to 1980.

Valerie Mahaffey Earns an Emmy for ‘Northen Exposure’

In 1992, Mahaffey earned an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Eve, a neurotic hypochondriac, in Northern Exposure. According to IMDb, she appeared in five episodes across three seasons during the early 1990s.

Mahaffey appeared in several notable roles throughout her career, including on shows like Desperate Housewives (2006-2012), Young Sheldon (2017-2020), and Dead to Me (2019-2022). She also made guest appearances on shows such as Cheers, Quantum Leap, Seinfeld, Big Sky, and The Mindy Project.

She has also appeared in several notable films, including French Exit (2020) alongside Michelle Pfeiffer, Sully (2016) opposite Tom Hanks, Seabiscuit (2003), and Jungle 2 Jungle (1997).

According to IMDb, Mahaffey recently appeared in the Apple TV+ series Echo 3 in 2022 and the film The 8th Day, which dropped in March.

The actress leaves behind her husband, Kell, and their daughter, Alice.