Model Annalise Braakensiek Found Dead in Her Apartment at Age 46

Model Annalise Braakensiek Found Dead in Her Apartment at Age 46
Model Annalise Braakensiek looks on during a 2012 file photo. Braakensiek was found dead on Jan. 6, 2019. (Scott Barbour/Getty Images)
Zachary Stieber
1/7/2019
Updated:
1/7/2019

An Australian model was found dead in her apartment over the weekend in Sydney, Australia at age 46.

Police received reports from people concerned about the welfare of Annalise Braakensiek and responded to her apartment in the Potts Point neighborhood on the afternoon of Jan. 6.

Officers found the model’s body inside the flat.

A police spokeswoman told the Sydney Morning Herald that the death does not appear to be suspicious.

An autopsy was scheduled to determine the cause of death.

Close friends told news.com.au that no one had heard from Braakensiek for a few days.

Adriana Dib, one of her friends, said she last spoke to Braakensiek on Wednesday and that her friend seemed fine.

“I thought she sounded OK. I wasn’t worried at all. We discussed the new year and all the wonderful things we would get to conquer and achieve,” Dib said.

“To find out today that she’s gone is so devastating, I feel out of body. She brought so much magical love to everyone she knew. My life was better for having had her in it. We were kindred. I felt very lucky. The world has lost a genuine beacon of beautiful light.”

She bought the apartment in November 2018 after she split from husband Danny Goldberg in April last year.

After splitting with Goldberg, she posted on Instagram: “I don’t know if a broken heart mends or learns to live in pieces.”

She said after buying the apartment that she was focusing on moving forward with her life.

In December she posted a picture on Instagram and in the caption called 2018 “a challenging year” but sounding hopeful.

“My biggest challenge was not having my own home (for a year now)!!!!?!!” she said.

Referring to family and friends, she said: “I don’t know what I’d do without you all. And I promise as soon as I move into my new abode I’ll be back to cooking, sharing my new jewellery designs and being a general all round mega Vikingess!” She also touted a new line of jewellery that fans could buy for Christmas presents.

Braakensiek was an ambassador for RUOK, a suicide prevention charity in Australia. In 2017, she said that she had struggled with the deaths of a number of people close to her.

“I couldn’t get out of bed,” she said. “I think I spent about six weeks in bed. I couldn’t do anything but cry my heart out—it was a very frightening feeling,” she told the Morning Herald. She said that sharing her struggles with family members and focusing on a healthy lifestyle had helped her.

On RUOK day in late 2018, she posted on Instagram a picture of a heart and thanked people who listened to her and provided support.

“I’m a proud ambassador for this fantastic suicide prevention charity ... mental health has so so many misconceptions, criticism, misunderstandings, and false judgments still!! We have to break the silence on mental health because it happens to the best of us. ( And in the worst situations),” she wrote.

“Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all of you who have helped me through my dark clouds ... now I’m strong enough to help my loved ones who unfortunately are not in the best place right now. But we will get through this!”