Shabana Rehman is dead – VG

The comedian, writer and public debater was 46 years old.

“It is with bottomless sadness that I have to announce that our much-loved irreplaceable sister, daughter, aunt, friend, centerpiece, cheerleader and pride passed away peacefully this morning,” writes her brother Shakeel Rehman on Facebook.

For the past eight days, Shabana has been hospitalized. She died on Thursday.

“She has fought hard and never given up hope. She wanted to live on for her family, her love and for the country that she loved so immensely. But lately, the body has not been able to do more. The disease emaciated her.” he continues.

VG has been in contact with Shakeel, who refers to the post he has published about his sister.

Shabana’s boyfriend, Petter Simonsen, writes on his Facebook profile that she died peacefully surrounded by those closest to her.

“I am in great sorrow but at the same time feel immense gratitude for every second I have had with my twin soul and great love,” the post says.

Furthermore, he writes that he wants to mourn in silence.

On 19 January 2022, while “Celebrity Farm” was rolling on the TV screen, Shabana fell ill. She ended up in the emergency room with what she thought was strep throat or a stomach ulcer. But it was more serious than that.

The investigation showed that Shabana had pancreatic cancer with spread, and it was impossible to operate.

– No fear

The doctors are said to have then explained that if the treatment did not work, she would not survive 2022. But Shabana has clung to life.

– I have thought that I have to write a will. In recent weeks, the seriousness has come closer, Shabana told Se og Hør on 29 November.

The magazine showed photos of a clearly reduced, but cheerful and festively dressed Shabana, who decorated the Christmas tree together with her partner, Petter Simonsen (49).

– The best Christmas present is that there are two of us, she said to Se og Hør.

At the same time, she explained that she had problems taking in nutrition and solid food, and that the doctors thought it was because the cancer had grown in her stomach.

Shabana stated in the interview that she was comfortable with the idea of ​​dying.

– I don’t experience any fear. But life gives me so much more.

After “The Farm”

Shabana did not inform the public about the illness while “Farmen kendis” was on TV. But in April, about two months after the series finished, she told Se og Hør that she had contracted cancer, and that it was serious.

Shabana has since shared openly about treatment, optimism, pain and hardship through a separate blog in the online newspaper.

«It is my desire to share with you. A responsibility I feel myself, and which is in line with my own conscience. So I hope, dear readers, that both you and I can learn something from this journey», Shabana wrote on June 12.

The first round of chemotherapy had then made her so ill that she would not tolerate another round.

Shabana refused to give up hope and started looking for alternative solutions. With the help of fundraising at Spleis, she was able to carry out four rounds of experimental and controversial treatment in Germany.

– If I have to travel, that’s fine

Despite the strong hope for a cure, Shabana has always been realistic.

«The disease is wreaking havoc on my body, but I have made a choice. And that choice has given me a perspective of death. A calmness in my body that if I HAVE to travel on, it’s okay. Then that’s what I’m going to do», Shabana wrote on the blog on September 6.

But most of all, Shabana hoped to live – for a long time.

– I’m not dead until I am, said an optimistic Shabana to VG in August 2022.

At the time, she had just moved in with her boyfriend Petter, who is a singer and pig farmer, on his farm in Hemnes.

– I experience the most beautiful and the toughest in my life – at the same time, she said.

The comedian has been married twice before, and she fell in love again two months before she was diagnosed with cancer.

– In March, I learned that I only had two months left to live. I see this day as a gift, Shabana told VG this summer.

– I don’t know if I will recover, but it will be life-prolonging, said the 46-year-old about the treatment in Germany, which is not approved in Norway.

Also on Instagram, Shabana has regularly shared from life, like here from the hospital:

Shabana was born in Pakistan in 1976. The following year the family came to Norway.

At the age of 19, she started working as a columnist in VG. It was the start of a life in the public eye and the limelight.

Comedian, writer, public debater, playwright, speaker and TV celebrity – the labels are many. Shabana debuted as a stand-up comedian in 1999 – aged 22 – and has since both fascinated and provoked.

Shabana made big headlines in 2004 when she lifted an indignant Mullah Krekar in front of the audience. The following year, it caused a stir when she kissed then culture minister Valgerd Svarstad Haugland (KrF) during the Film Festival in Haugesund.

The merit list also includes several awards – such as Fritt Ord, the Fredrikke Prize and the Pillarguri Prize. In September 2022, Shabana received Norsk PEN’s Ossietzky Prize for her work for freedom of expression. As recently as 4 December 2022, she was presented with the Tranmæl award at home in her own living room for “important work for people in a difficult and vulnerable situation”.

From 2017 to 2020, Shabana was head of the “Born Free” foundation. In 2020, she became a member of the government’s Freedom of Expression Commission.

In the spring of 2021, Shabana told VG how she had changed her lifestyle and lost over 20 kilos.