Update 4/7/15, 2 p.m.: The New York Times reports that a spokeswoman for the Miami police confirmed that Brandt’s death was a suicide.
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Dr. Fredric Brandt, a celeb-favorite dermatologist and creater of Dr. Brandt Skincare, was found dead early this morning at his home in Coral Gables, Florida, People reports. Dr. Brandt was 65.
This is such a huge loss for those who knew Brandt both personally and professionally for his expert skincare knowledge and commitment to the field of dermatology. Not only was Brandt well known in the beauty world for his expertise and crazy-effective product line, but he also was responsible for the faces of mega famous celebrities like Madonna, Kelly Ripa and model Stephanie Seymour.
Cosmetic dermatology is what made Brandt so well known (he’s been called “The Baron of Botox”), but he also practiced and preached the fundamentals of skin health and sun protection. Beyond skincare, the doctor loved art, practiced yoga almost every morning, and hosted a weekly show on SiriusXM radio about Botox, fillers and laser treatments. He also developed quite the reputation for testing out fillers on his own face over the years.
His publicist Jacquie Trachtenberg told Page Six: “Everyone who knows him is devastated. I worked with him for over 20 years and he was an amazing man, not only was he a brilliant doctor, but he was the kindest human being.” She also noted that he was “suffering from an illness.”
A Miami Herald columnist reported that while police have no further information surrounding his death, Brandt was “devastated” over comparisons that have been made between him and a character in Tina Fey’s new show “The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” a nutty plastic surgeon played by Martin Short. Joan Kron, an editor at Allure, also reported: “When I spoke to him recently, he was particularly upset about a character in the Netflix comedy “The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” a dermatologist widely believed to be a fictionalized version of him.”
But Brandt’s publicist told Page Six that this is unrelated to his death: “The show definitely deeply hurt him, he was being made fun of because of the way he looks. It is mean, and it was bullying. But the show was not the reason for his depression, and it was not the reason he would take his own life.”
His skincare line includes a bestsellers like the Microdermabrasion Skin Exfoliant and Pores No More Pore Refiner Primer — both of which have over 10k “likes” on Sephora.com.
