Neill shared a sweet clip of him smiling and chatting as he held Magda in his arms, and described her as a “miracle old duck” who had defied the odds of nature as a mother.
“Very late in life, she finally hatched some eggs and raised two hellraiser ducklings.”
The video recounted the day Magda became a mother, where Neill told her: “Didn’t think you’d ever have ducklings but you did. It’s a happy ending.”
Her ducklings still remained on the farm, Neill said.
“Today, they stand by the dam saying goodbye to their mother, as Kevin the Kākā flies past, as a salute to the old girl!
“Farewell Magda, my little friend.”
The woman, whose name Neill purportedly bestowed on his pet duck, shared her own grief in the comment sections.
Kath & Kim star Magda Szubanski says the news of Magda the duck's passing is "so sad". Photo / Getty Images “Oh no!!! This is so sad! May my beautiful namesake rest in peace,” wrote Kath & Kim‘s Magda Szubanski.
“I’m so glad she knew the love and delight of little ’uns before departing this world.”
Ashburton-born actor Robyn Malcolm (Outrageous Fortune , After the Party ) was moved by the loss of Neill’s duck, commenting: “This made me cry.”
Deborah Hutton, an Australian media personality and entrepreneur, also sent her love by writing heartbreak and sad face emojis for Magda.
Neill, who on Sunday won the Silver Logie for Best Lead Actor in a Drama for his performance in legal series The Twelve , has made a bright return to screens after being diagnosed with stage 3 angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma – a type of blood cancer – in 2022.
He underwent chemotherapy treatment after his diagnosis, although its efficacy levelled off after three months, leading the Peaky Blinders actor to switch to a new anti-cancer drug that he claimed had saved his life .
Neill currently stars alongside Australian actor Eric Bana in murder mystery series Untamed , which was the second-most popular show on Netflix New Zealand at the time of writing.
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