Brooke Gomez, an interior designer who worked with The Real Housewives of New York alum Bethenny Frankel, was found dead in her luxury apartment over the weekend, Entertainment Weekly reports. She made appearances on the second season of Bethenny Ever After on Bravo, Frankel’s short-lived spinoff. On the show, Gomez decorated Frankel’s Tribeca loft. Reports say she hadn’t been seen in over a week, and unfortunately upon discovering her body, it was in an advanced state of decomposition. Gomez was 49. A spokesperson for the New York City Police Deputy Commissioner of Public Information notes that a medical examiner’s office is still investigating to determine Gomez’s cause of death. No foul play is suspected.
Gomez worked with her mother, famed decorator Mariette Himes Gomez, at Gomez Associates before launching her own firm, Brooke Gomez Design, in 2019. Her company’s design firm also confirmed the news, remembering the late designer as a “light that shined brilliantly on everyone who knew her.” According to her website, Gomez recently completed projects for Michael J. Fox and Sigourney Weaver. As of now, Frankel has not commented on Gomez’s death.
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Regarding working for her mom’s firm, she once said in an interview with to Business of Home, “Someone left really suddenly, so I decided to help out in the interim. But I really just loved it. I loved the right brain/left brain contrast of creating a contract and then getting to do something creative.”
It doesn’t appear the mother-daughter design duo parted ways acrimoniously. As for why the mother-daughter duo decided to go their separate ways, Brooke noted, “I think it was time for both of us to have the next phase of our lives. For her—as someone who invested all her time, energy, and talent into this for 40-plus years—it was time for her to explore other interests,” she added, continuing, “For me, right now it’s about building my own team, finding new people that I want to work with and making this firm my own. And it’s nice to know that my sweet, talented mother is always just a phone call away.”
