The Patriot Actress Skye McCole Bartusiak Dead at 21

Actress Skye McCole Bartusiak has died at the young age of 21. The thesp, who was best known for her role as Mel Gibson's youngest daughter in the 2000 film The Patriot, passed away Saturday at her home in Houston, according to CNN.

"We lost our girl," her mother, Helen McCole Bartusiak, told the network. "She was a kind and really beautiful girl." Skye started her career in entertainment at the age of six with a role in The Cider House Rules in 1999, and went on to play Michael Douglas' daughter in Don't Say a Word in
2001.

After starring in independent thriller Sick Boy in 2012, she had been preparing to produce and direct her first feature film. Investigators have yet to determine a cause of death, but her mother said Skye had been suffering from epileptic seizures in recent days. The late actress's boyfriend found
her sitting up in her bed in the garage apartment next to her parents' home. "We think she had a seizure and choked and nobody was there," Helen continued. Her mother attempted to perform CPR before paramedics arrived, but wasn't able to resuscitate her.