Former talk show host and attorney-at-law Antonette Haughton Cardenas has died.

Haughton Cardenas died Friday morning in the United States where she had resided for over 15 years.

OBSERVER ONLINE understands that Haughton Cardenas had been ailing for sometime with an undisclosed illness. She was 67.

Haughton Cardenas shot to national prominence in the 1990s as a firebrand talk show host who championed the rights of the deprived.

She gained more popularity in the early 2000s as a co-founder of a third political party, the now defunct United People’s Party, and as one of the founders of the first women’s march in Half Way Tree.

However, she found herself in legal troubles after being accused of stealing millions of dollars from some of her clients.

In 2009, the General Legal Council, acting upon a recommendation by its disciplinary committee, struck her from the roll of attorneys allowed to do legal work in Jamaica.

The disgraced lawyer jumped bail, failed to pay the sum owing and fled the island.

Haughton Cardenas was born in quiet Islington, St Mary to parents who were active in both community and politics.

Her father was the late Kenneth Haughton who was the youngest councilor for the Islington Division and held various positions including president of the Jamaica Cane Farmers Association and Jamaica Banana Board.

Haughton Cardenas was the wife of former Cuban ambassador to Jamaica Oswaldo Cardenas. She is survived by a son and three brothers.