Cilla Black was one of the most beloved presenters of all time before her tragic passing in 2016.
The host, dancer and actress had a long career, beginning as a singer and she hit top of the charts in 1964.
Her role as host of iconic dating show Blind Date, from 1985 until 2003, sent her into further superstardom and her vast fortune continued to grow.
She tragically died of a stroke in 2016 but now, on what would have been her 79th birthday, Daily Star has taken a look at what happened to her huge wealth.
£15m gift to sons
Beneficiaries of the star’s £15,217,454 estate are listed in the will as being her children.
Her husband Bobby Willis died of cancer in 1999 and she never remarried.
Her three sons (Robert, Jack and Ben) were instructed receive just over £3million after paying £5.95million in inheritance tax.
(Image: PA)
This was before even touching Cilla’s extensive property portfolio – which included a villa in Estepona, southern Spain an apartment in central London and a beachside property in Barbados.
Lavish mansion
Her three children were left the Blind Date host’s eight bedroom home too, which included a tennis court, leisure complex and indoor pool and spa.
She had bought the property in the Bucks village of Denham in 1970.
The lavish grounds also included a detached cottage where Cilla’s housekeeper Penny Walker has lived for the last 30 years.
They put it on the market about a year after she passed away.
Admitting it was sad the family were leaving the close knit village, a local source told the Daily Star on Sunday: “Cilla was a huge part of village life when her boys were younger but kept herself to herself in recent years.”
Kind gift to housekeeper
Penny Walker, the star’s housekeeper, was considered one of Cilla’s closest friends.
In fact, the pair were so close that Cilla left her £20,000 in her will, according to court papers revealed in the Sun.
Reports around the time of her death claimed the star saw the employee as “part of the family” after working for her for more than three decades.
(Image: ITV/PA)
(Image: 2014 Getty Images)
News of the star’s passing shocked the world in 2016. The 72-year-old was sunbathing when she lost her balance, fell and hit her head, which knocked her unconscious.
A sobering autopsy report confirmed that her cause of death had been a subarachnoid haemorrhage – a form of stroke caused by bleeding on the brain.
Andre Rebello described how her eldest son Robert discovered his mum on the terrace of her Costa del Sol luxury villa in Estepona, at 5.30pm on August 1.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
