Annalise Braakensiek remembered at her beloved Bondi Beach
Hundreds of family and friends have paid tribute to Annalise Braakensiek at Bondi Beach today including Jodhi Meares and her ex husband Danny Goldberg, after the model was found dead in her Sydney apartment earlier this month after battling depression.
- Reclusive model Braakensiek ‘plunged into a dark place’
- Model Annalise Braakensiek found dead in Sydney home
Hundreds of family and friends have paid tribute to Annalise Braakensiek at Bondi Beach today including Jodhi Meares, after the model was found dead in her Sydney apartment earlier this month after battling depression.
Songs, meditation and a swim at the south end of the iconic beach during the early sunrise was the way everyone wanted Annalise to be remembered at the memorial.
Among those paying tribute were Annalise’s mother Veera, her sister Deva and brother as well as her ex-husband Danny Goldberg and his family.
The tribute started off with a silent meditation on the sand as mourners watched the sunrise just before 6am.
It was then followed by a prayer and music played on a wooden recorder before the crowd slowly moved towards the water with many mourners carrying a single frangipani, known to be Annalise’s favourite flower.
They then began placing the flower in the water as they stood silent on the shore with many embracing each other in support before surfers headed out to the ocean to create a huge honorary circle.
Mr Goldberg was taken out on a jet ski by a lifeguard as he carried a frangipani wreath to the ocean.
Sharney Simpson, who had known the model for over twenty years, helped organise the tribute and said Annalise loved Bondi and this was the perfect way to celebrate her life.
“This is the freest way to pay tribute to her because she loved doing meditation and then taking a swim at the beach. this was the way to honour that,” Sharney said.
“She is the truest human being, a free spirit and sweetest kindest person you will ever meet.”
Friends said they were still coming to terms with Annalise’s unexpected death which has rocked the tight-knit Bondi community.
“I am just shocked and sad because she seemed to be in such a happy and good place,” Sharney said.
Kate Brooks and her two young daughters Ivy, 8, and Edith, 5, were Annalise’s neighbours for eight years in Bondi.
“She was the most generous and loving person you could ever meet …. I never expected her to go away like this,” Kath said as she held back tears.
“Annalise used to bring food, come over and play on the trampoline with the girls and they loved her.”
Young Ivy and Edith said Annalise will always be remembered for her generosity and playfulness and said that they will miss her a lot.
“I would describe her as funny, tall and huggable and very loving,” Ivy said.
“I want to tell her we love you Annalise.”
As the surfers came back the large crowd moved towards the rocks as they gathered to sing with a live band with Braakensiek’s mother joining in before being comforted by friends.
Mourners gathered after to The Bucket List for ‘hot lemon water, a coffee, and a natter’, which is said to be a tradition between Braakensiek and meditation guru Gina Byrnes who was a close friend.
The 46-year-old’s body was found by emergency services in her Potts Point unit about 3.30pm on January 6, when her friends and family raised concerns after not hearing from her for a number of days.
Braakensiek split from her stockbroker husband of 16 years last April and shared her troubles on social media, telling fans of a “turbulent year” and that “everything seems to feel twisted and upside down at the moment”.
She bought the Victoria Street, Potts Point, apartment in November.
Braakensiek made a name for herself first as a model but later as an actor, a health ambassador, jewellery and lingerie designer, and vegan blogger.
She fought a highly publicised battle with depression in recent years, working as an ambassador for RUOK? Day.
She spoke of her dark days in a 2017 interview on The Daily Edition.
“It was the … negative reaction people had to me being depressed and falling under the dark cloud. In many ways my life is wonderful, for which I’m extremely grateful and there’s no doubting that, but when you’re suffering these kinds of things for people to say how dare you — you’re a model, you’re a millionaire, you’re round the world,” she said. “That’s got nothing to do with this.”
It is understood that the normally vibrant and bubbly model had become reclusive in the days leading up to her death.
Braakensiek previously told The Daily Telegraph in November 2017 that she had never really wanted to be a model.
“I fought against it for a long time and then I thought it’s so lucrative, so I deferred from uni thinking I’d do it for a year and 25 years later, I’m still doing it. But at times I would think what am I doing just standing here?” she said.
Friends hope to create a permanent memorial on Bondi Beach to honour and remember what was Annalise’s home.
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