Doubts over Annalise suicide theory

Friends of Sydney model and socialite Annalise Braakensiek have questioned the theory she took her own life and put forward their own thoughts of how she died.

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Four weeks after the death of model Sydney model Annalise Braakensiek, a picture has emerged of a woman who was making creative business plans for 2019, was on good terms with her ex-husband and was living a luxurious jet-set lifestyle in the months prior to her untimely death.

It is a picture starkly at odds with portrayals that to date have cast Braakensiek as a woman depressed and suicidal at the time of her death, the weekend of January 6.

With no suicide note to reveal Braakensiek’s state of mind at the time of her death, her friends last week said they are convinced Braakensiek’s death was a “hideous” accident — much like the one that claimed actor Heath Ledger in 2008, Sydney pub owner James Miller in 2013 and Paddington restaurateur Jackie Milijash in 2016.

Annalise Braakensiek was found dead in her Potts Point apartment in early January.

A known recreational drug user, 46-year-old swimsuit model Braakensiek is suspected of overdosing on “downers” — depressants or, commonly, sleeping pills — often the chemical haven of Sydney’s stimulant-loving glamour set.

On Friday police were unable to confirm close friends’ suspicions Braakensiek’s death was due to an accidental drug overdose, a police representative instead repeating the “no suspicious circumstances” axiom that has fuelled rumours the model took her own life during the hangover from Sydney’s festive season.

“I saw her just days before and while everyone knew Annalise could be a fragile person, that doesn’t mean she was depressed or depressive,” said one friend of 20 years who, like others, has taken issue with the speed at which mental health groups have claimed the model as the 2019 poster-girl for suicide prevention.

“To date there has been no evidence to support the theory she committed suicide — just a couple of images of her historically supporting RUOK? Day, which anyone can do by stepping on to Bondi Beach and agreeing, out of the kindness of your heart, to be photographed with that group’s marketing team on a promotional day.”

While Braakensiek’s estranged husband, property developer and Cranbrook old boy Danny Goldberg, declined, via a representative, this column’s request last week to talk about his former love’s death, a friend of Goldberg’s maintains the couple were on good terms almost a year after separating.

Friends suspect the model died from an accidental drug overdose.

“Danny is not the kind of guy not to look after Annalise financially,” said another. “They worked at their friendship and remained close.”

Goldberg played a key role at a memorial service in Braakensiek’s honour at Bondi Beach on January 16 where he committed a frangipani wreath to the sea at a dawn ceremony attended by the ex Mrs James Packer, Jodhi Meares, and members of Sydney’s fashion set, including businessman David Bush.

In contrast to posthumous reports painting Braakensiek as a broken woman following her marriage breakdown, in the eight-month period from May to November, 2018, a smiling and fit-looking Braakensiek was in perpetual motion chasing the sun across the northern hemisphere while making plans for an upcoming modelling job in Bali and a series of cooking and wellness retreats at Byron Bay she was organising.

In May last year, a month after confirming her 16-year marriage was over, the model travelled to Los Angeles to enjoy the hospitality of friends who hosted her at a lavish property.

In June she was back on the north coast of NSW promoting the benefits of yoga, organic diet and routine detox at a retreat.

The former model had big plans for 2019 and had a good relationship with her former husband.

July saw her lapping up the sun in Barcelona. In August she was visiting sites in Berlin and Madrid.

By September Braakensiek was in Ibiza and a month later, Bali, for a swimwear shoot where she posted of wanting to be the “best, toned and healthiest version of me”.

In November, the self-described “gypsy” who, a month earlier, revealed her future plans of “walking this wonderful world as much as possible … immersing myself in as many different cultures …” was revelling in the Malibu sunshine.

A month later, on her return to Sydney, Braakensiek got to work setting up a new home in an apartment in Potts Point, walking distance from Kings Cross.

The location of her new pad surprised old friends who thought she could never live so far — 6km — from her beloved Bondi Beach strip.

They were also concerned her new home was a little too close to some of Sydney’s seedier elements.

Within the month, Braakensiek was dead — with the narrative of her social media posts hijacked to support a somewhat romanticised suicide-awareness agenda that, friends believe, misrepresents their friend and her passion for life.

The Coroner’s Court is set to review Braakensiek’s death in July.

Suicide prevention campaigners might want to put a hold on new creative until after.

Originally published as Doubts over Annalise suicide theory