Famed Hollywood actor and director Clint Eastwood, 94, recently endured a terrible loss with the death last week of his longtime girlfriend, Christina Sandera.

County health officials in California have now revealed that the 61-year-old Sandera's cause of death on July 18 was likely a heart attack, according to Us Weekly.

Eastwood and Sandera had been a romantic couple since they first met in 2014 when she worked as a hostess at Eastwood’s Mission Ranch Hotel and Restaurant in Carmel-by-the-Sea, the small California town where he once served as the mayor.

Heart attack the cause of death

The New York Post reported exclusively on Tuesday that a representative of the Monterey County Health Department confirmed that Sandera had passed away several days earlier after suffering a heart attack.

According to Sandera's death certificate, she experienced a fatal cardiac arrhythmia, or an abnormal pattern or timing of heartbeats.

A secondary cause of death was listed as atherosclerotic coronary artery disease, or a buildup of plaque in the arteries close to the heart that can restrict blood flow.

"I will miss her very much"

Sandera's death on July 18 was first revealed by The Hollywood Reporter last week and was confirmed by a brief statement from Eastwood that was released through a spokesperson for the Warner Bros. studio.

"Christina was a lovely, caring woman, and I will miss her very much," the famed actor and director said of the woman who'd been by his side for the past decade.

The outlet noted that Eastwood and Sandera had always been rather quiet about their relationship and the WB spokesperson said at the time that no further information about her death would be forthcoming.

A generally private relationship

The Post reported that though Eastwood and Sandera largely kept their romance private, they did appear in public together as a couple at a handful of major Hollywood events during the first half of their decade together.

That included her accompanying him to the 2015 Academy Awards, where Eastwood's "American Sniper" film was nominated for six Oscars.

She was also by his side on the red carpet for the premiers of his films "Sully" in 2016, "The Mule" and "The 15:17 to Paris" in 2018, and "Richard Jewell" in 2019.

Eastwood and Sandera were never married but the Post noted that it appeared as though she was accepted and beloved by at least some of Eastwood's eight adult children from his two prior marriages and several previous romantic relationships with other women.

Eastwood's daughter Morgan, 27, shared on social media a photo from her wedding last month at her father's ranch and wrote of Sandera's death, "A devastating loss for our whole family," and added along with a heart emoji, "Thank you Christina for being a good partner to my Dad. You will be greatly missed."