The E.T. The Extra Terrestrial screenwriter, who was married to the actor from 1983 until 2004, passed away in Los Angeles yesterday at the age of 65 after sadly losing her battle to neuroendocrine cancer, her sister Melinda Mathison Johnson confirmed to CBS News.
Steven Spielberg, who directed the 1982 classic, said of her passing: ”Melissa had a heart that shined with generosity and love and burned as bright as the heart she gave ‘E.T.”’
Ford, 73, has not yet commented on his ex-spouse’s death.
Mathison leaves behind her two grown-up children Malcolm, 28, and Georgia, 25, whom she has with Ford.
The former couple, who met on the set of Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now in 1976, married in 1983 but filed for divorce 18 years later in 2011 following allegations the Hollywood legend was out partying with other women.
Their marriage was finally legally dissolved three years later and was branded the third most costly celebrity divorce in history, according to E! News.
Ford went on to tie the knot with actress Calista Flockhart in 2010 after he met her at the 2002 Golden Globe Awards, while Mathison never remarried.