Model and ex-Home and Away actress found dead in apartment

Police were called to the 46-year-old’s property in the suburb of Potts Point on Sunday afternoon after concerns were raised by friends.

There are no suspicious circumstances surrounding her death, according to Sky News Australia.

Braakensiek featured in advertising campaigns and on magazine covers in Australia, the US, UK and Italy among others, since being discovered aged 16 by a photographer on Sydney’s Bondi beach.

As an actor she appeared on Australian game shows, comedies and soaps, including Home and Away.

Between 2002 and 2003 she was co-host of UK game show Play Your Cards Right.

She also designed underwear and jewellery and worked with cancer and animal welfare charities.

Later she became an ambassador for RUOK Day, which encourages people to ask the question of those close to them who might be struggling.

On their website she wrote: “I urge you to remember that even the smallest gesture, the simple sincere question of R U OK? can quite literally turn a life around.

“Listen to your gut and keep checking in with anyone one you’re worried about.”

Braakensiek had her own struggles with mental health and posted on Instagram in December that life’s challenges had been “deep, dark, difficult, demanding and downright scary lately”.

In 2017 she told the Sydney Morning Herald that she had struggled to deal with the deaths 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.”

At the time she had sought help from close family and used cognitive behavioural therapy and a healthy lifestyle in an effort to recover.

She said anyone could be affected by mental health problems, adding “success doesn’t come into it”.

She split from husband stockbroker Danny Goldberg last year after 16 years, posting on Instagram: “I don’t know if a broken heart mends or learns to live in pieces”.

RUOK chief executive Brendan Maher said the organisation was “still processing” the news.

“Nothing we have ever asked of Annalise was too much, she has stepped up time and time again to share our message, even when she was going through her own tough times,” he told the ABC.

“We couldn’t have asked for a more genuine, kind and sincere spokesperson.”

:: If you feel emotionally distressed or suicidal please call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.