Former Playboy Playmate Ashley Mattingly Dead At 33 – Perez Hilton
Former Playboy Playmate Ashley Mattingly has died.
Mattingly was found unresponsive at her home in Austin, Texas on Friday afternoon, hours after a friend called the city’s police department and asked them to do a welfare check on the woman after not hearing from her for several days. She was just 33 years old.
According to TMZ, who spoke with Ashley’s sister Christy and her twin brother Billy, the model and former Playmate died by suicide on Wednesday of last week; a cause of death has not yet been announced. There was also apparently a suicide note at the scene when police arrived to find her body several days later; cops took the note as part of their investigation into her death.
Mattingly apparently had been living in Austin for at least the past two years after spending much of her career out on the west coast. Family members reported to the media outlet that she had previously struggled with substance abuse issues, but had more recently been trying to get clean, and was actively working towards getting her life back on track.
The state-wide quarantine and shelter-in-place order in Austin reportedly didn’t help Mattingly’s mental state or psychological outlook, either, according to her family. The young woman had recently adopted a 9-month-old golden retriever puppy named Miss Jean in a bid to help with the feelings of loneliness and isolation amid quarantine. After Ashley’s death, the dog is now apparently safe with her family.
Mattingly rose to fame as Playboy‘s Miss March 2011, and modeled thereafter. She was a victim of a high-profile domestic violence incident in 2012, when her then-boyfriend, former Prison Break star Lane Garrison, was convicted of domestic battery against her. She had her own brush with the law in 2016 when she was charged with DUI after allegedly plowing a golf cart into four parked cars while drunk.
Mattingly’s family reportedly hopes that Ashley’s story can help raise awareness about mental health and suicide even after her passing. Obviously, this is a doubly tough time for many people now, what with coronavirus quarantine-related social distancing measures and stay-at-home orders in place for much of the country. What a sad, sad situation.
Our thoughts and prayers are with Ashley Mattingly’s friends, family, and loved ones right now as they grapple with her untimely death. Such a tragedy. May she forever rest in peace…
[Image via WENN]
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