Annalise Braakensiek was an Australian model and actress, who made her debut in the television industry in 1997 in Heartbreak High. The role landed her many other opportunities, including Home and Away in 1998, Pizza in 2000, and Play Your Cards Right in 2002. However, the role she was most passionate about in her life was that of a suicide prevention advocate. She was found dead in her Sydney home on Thursday by police. The officers were sent there for a welfare check after Braakensiek’s loved ones became concerned after not hearing from her, according to People .
Braakensiek was a mental health advocate for years, joining Australian suicide prevention charity R U OK? just this past November. She hoped to work toward breaking the stigma around mental health and starting an open discussion about suicide prevention.
“I’m a proud ambassador for this fantastic suicide prevention charity… mental health has so so many misconceptions, criticism, misunderstandings and false judgements still!! We have to break the silence on mental health because it happens to the best of us,” Braakensiek explained.
Although the cause of the actress’ death is not yet known, many of her fans speculate that it could have been suicide. Upon the announcement of her death, comments flooded her Instagram page expressing their sorrow over her premature death. Although Braakensiek has been candid about her struggles with depression in the past, one of the last posts prior to her death seemed to be focused on positivity.
“Life’s challenges have been deep, dark, difficult, demanding and down right scary lately. For me and so many others I know. But today is a new day,” she captioned a photo of herself practicing yoga.
She went on to thank her many supporters for carrying her through a rough past year and keeping her motivated. Despite the hardships of 2018, the model claimed she was looking forward to a fresh start in the new year. She was hoping to get back into her life passions of creating art, cooking, and entertaining friends.
“Huge thanks for all you supportive beautiful people who follow and support me via SM too. I know you can’t judge yourself by ‘likes’ but they mean a lot, especially from my faraway friends and family,” she said.
Braakensiek’s rough past year was due in part to her divorce from stockbroker Danny Goldberg, who she married in 2002. Police are looking into the cause of her death, but do not yet believe the cause was suspicious.
