The actress of the film "Sashenka" Natalia Doncheva died at the age of 56.

Bulgarian actress Natalia Doncheva, known for the film "Sashenka" and the TV series "Sheriff", died at the age of 57 after a long-term chronic illness. This was reported by the International Business Times on August 2.

The death of the actress on social media was confirmed by her stepson, French actor Hugo Celignac. He noted that the severe period of illness lasted 10 years.

"I didn't like the word "stepmother" because when we met, I was no longer a child, and I already had a stepmother. But you have no idea how beautiful I thought you were and how much I loved you," Celignac wrote.

He thanked Doncheva for her trust, for helping his father and for accepting his children as her own.

Natalia Doncheva was the daughter of Bulgarian actor Plamen Donchev. For about 25 years, she was in a relationship with French director, screenwriter and producer Arnaud Celignac. Doncheva died in France, where she lived most of her life. The artist moved to this country in 1989, to her mother's homeland, where she studied at the Paris Conservatoire. She starred in Bulgarian and French films, including The Mysterious Murders of Agatha Christie, Crimson Rivers and The Infidel.