Simone Hotlznagel scatters Charlotte Dawson’s ashes to mark 11 years since her death
“The years between then and now have brought moments of clarity, grief, healing … everything in between.”
Holtznagel noted that she still misses Dawson every day.
“Eleven years feels like a lifetime ago but also like it was yesterday. We think of you every day and I wish you were here.”
The TV star was found dead in her luxury inner Sydney apartment on February 22, 2014, after taking her own life.
“Each year I have learned something new about how to carry her memory with me. What I have carried for all this time is the unique bond, one still alive within me even as her ashes are released back into the world.”
Holtznagel included an image of a love heart she drew on the beach sand that contained Dawson’s initials, CD, in the middle.
Dawson, born in Auckland in April 1966, was an Australia-based model and television personality, known for being a judge on Australia’s Next Top Model and for hosting shows such as Getaway and The Contender Australia.
After working in Australia’s fashion scene through the 1990s and early 2000s, she moved into television and worked as a fashion correspondent on various shows for Network Ten.
On February 22, 2014, Dawson’s body was discovered in her Woolloomooloo home, with investigators later attributing her death to suicide.
The 47-year-old had a history of depression and was said to have been targeted by online trolls in the lead-up to her death, having previously been admitted to hospital in 2012 following a suicide attempt under similar circumstances.
A real estate agent preparing for the auction of Dawson’s Woolloomooloo home found her body shortly before the auction was set to begin.
Holtznagel has previously spoken about the toll Dawson’s death had on her in a heartbreaking interview with SAS Australia in 2022.
Holtznagel experienced a panic attack on-air as she retold the story of having to identify Dawson’s body, going on to explain how much she valued their friendship.
“She really took me under her wing. She had a lot of high hopes for me. And she had a lot of s*** as well,” Holtznagel told SAS Australia.
“She was my mentor and very good friend. I remember that moment, I collapsed to the ground.
“I was asked to go and identify her body because her family was in New Zealand. It was something I never thought I’d have to do, especially at 20. I think about it now and I was so little, I was a baby,” Holtznagel added, admitting that the experience drove her to excessive drinking.
“There was a couple months after she died, I was drinking every day, barely getting out of bed,” she said.
“I had a moment where I was like, she died, I didn’t, and she wouldn’t want me to not live my life. If she had seen me doing that, she would have hated it. Because she always had so much belief that I would go on and be this superstar.”