Oprah Winfrey pays tribute to cancer victim from Aussie show

Oprah Winfrey

PA Images / Paul Beaty/AP

Oprah Winfrey has paid tribute to a previous guest from one of her shows who recently lost his battle with cancer.

Hugh Jackman first brought attention to the plight of 36-year-old Kristian Anderson when he appeared as a guest star in a YouTube video that Kristian made as a surprise for his wife Rachel. The couple later appeared on Winfrey's two-part Australian chatshow, where she gave them money towards Kristian's treatment.

Kristian passed away on January 2 and Winfrey has now passed on her condolences to Rachel and their children, saying: "Kristian was an inspiration to us all, the way he handled cancer with fierce grace. The light he left on earth will not be dimmed by his passing."

Shortly after her husband's death, Rachel told The Daily Telegraph: "His breaths got lighter and quieter and then they just stopped and then he was gone.

"We'd a long time to think about it but now it is here it's quite scary. I want to focus on remembering how he was when he was well - a brave, passionate, amazing man. [We're now] just tryi! ng to ad just to life without him."

Triple M presenter Gus Worland, who became friends with Kristian after helping him make the video, said: "He never ever blamed anyone, he never got angry. Why does he get picked? I'd constantly be asking that - how unfair - but he never said that.

"He said, 'I want to be remembered as a loving father and a loving husband who got really unlucky, and fought as hard as he could'."

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Watch Kristian Anderson's video for wife Rachel below: