‘Patriot’ Actress Skye McCole Bartusiak Dead At 21

Skye McCole Bartusiak, who played Mel Gibson's youngest daughter in "The Patriot", died Saturday at her Houston home at the age of 21.

"We lost our girl," her mother, Helen McCole Bartusiak, told CNN.
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The actress made her on-screen debut in "The Cider House Rules" at the age of six, and was featured as Michael Douglas' daughter in 2001's "Don't Say a Word".

Before her death, Skye was planning on producing and directing her first feature film.

No cause of death has been determined, but Bartusiak's mother says that Skye had recently begun suffering epileptic seizures. "We think she had a seizure and choked and nobody was there,"  says Helen McCole Bartusiak.

The actress' boyfriend found her unconscious in bed in her garage apartment next to her parents' home. Her mother tried CPR before paramedics arrived on the scene, but she could not be revived.