Sometime yesterday, Dayle Haddon, age 76, supermodel, actress and advocate for the global education of girls, died due to suspected carbon monoxide poisoning. I was blessed to know and spend time with Dayle, and I’m stunned and heartbroken over the loss of this magnificent woman.

One of our mutual friends called to tell me of Dayle’s untimely and senseless death. Carbon monoxide poisoning! How could that be? 

I first met Dayle when a mutual friend introduced us nine years ago. At the time, she still lived in New York City, not far from the Guggenheim, and I took my 1010ParkPlace team to her home to do an Ageless Style story. Over the course of the afternoon, Dayle and I bonded over our shared circumstances of being widowed at a young age and winding up with almost no money, except she had a teenage daughter to support, and I didn’t.

When she needed to return to work, her account of how difficult it was for her to get a job “doing anything” is inspiring. This famous woman who’d been an actress in top box office films and graced the covers of countless magazines was told that at 40, she was too old to return to modeling. But that didn’t stop her. Dayle became her own agent, and a strong advocate for herself. She kept knocking on doors and even when the only job she could get was making coffee and xerox copies, she made the best of where she was, and she gathered her strength and made magic happen.

Dayle Haddon was the only model to have four major contracts as the face and international spokesperson for L’Oréal, Revlon, Estée Lauder and Max Factor. She posed for over 100 magazine covers and wrote two international bestsellers, but it was the inner Dayle, not her outer beauty, that drew everyone to her. The Dayle who was a UNICEF Ambassador and who founded Women1One, a nonprofit devoted to creating postive change in the world by educating girls around the world. 

Educate a girl. Change the world–Dayle Haddon

When one of our mutual friends called me about Dayle’s shocking death, she said, “Dayle was the best friend anyone could have. There was no one kinder, more engaged. So giving and vital. Wonderful is a cliche,” our friend told me. “But Dayle was light and love. Her nickname was lumière which in French means light. I used to tell Dayle she went from model to role model.”

I didn’t know Dayle as well as some of our other friends, but sometimes we would meet up in New York City when I was there and have lunch or dinner. On one such occasion, she was speaking at an event and told me to meet her afterward, backstage. When she saw me, she rushed over and said, “You have to help me find my hairpiece!” She pointed to the top of her head. “I’ve lost it.”

Like many women of a certain age, her hair was thinning in places, but one of the most beautiful women in the world was admitting to a problem many of us would never tell anyone.

Like a dodo I asked, “What does it look like? How big is it?” I wanted to know if I could spot it from a few paces, or if I needed to look closer. Her answer sent me into gales of laughter! 

“It looks like a dead rat!”

With everyone gone from the theater but us, for the next 30 minutes, Dayle and I, crawled on our hands and knees backstage, looking for the dead rat. We never found it, but at the sight of one another, on all fours, we laughed so hard I thought we’d never be able to stand up straight, again.

A couple of hours ago, I went to Dayle’s Instagram page and found a video interview she did one week ago. As always, Dayle has given us her wisdom and herself, and here, she’s given women of every age a lot to think about.

“We as women and girls have to be soverign and own our life, and know that every age has gifts to give us. Every age has secrets, and if we desperately hold onto the prior age, afraid to blossom into the other ages, we will never hear what those ages have to offer us.

If you stay curious, if you stay interested, if you stay healthy and engergetic—work on your mind, work on the body so that will be your entry point into what your (later years) will be… You’re making a recipe of your life. If you’re cooking, you know if you put in too much butter it’s going to be a wishy washy cake. So you’ve got to put in the good thinking and actions toward others, have a philosophy and understanding of what aging’s about and your life and what the value is because wants and needs are ephemeral. As soon as you get what you want, you’ll replace it with another want, but what you value stays permanently. It’s good to make a list: Here’s what I want. Here’s what I value. And that is a good guide for where to go.”

Dayle’s daughter, Ryan Haddon, wrote a beautiful tribute to her mother. In part it reads: “In conversation, she could go to the deepest of places and also soar the highest heights of spiritual understanding. She held so many up, saw their greatness, sometimes hidden to them, and always built bridges with her own connections to help them ascend. She was everyone’s greatest champion. An inspiration to many.”

In this new year, I’m inspired to conciously be more like Dayle. To shine my light where it’s needed most.

In memory of Dayle, PLEASE buy carbon monoxide detectors for your home. Don’t let the senseless death of this amazing woman be for nought. Even now, Dayle is building a bridge to save us and our loved ones.

Sending you love and peace, dear Dayle. My condolences to all who loved you. We can’t believe you’re gone.