An American art influencer was found dead at a five-star hotel in Brazil, where she’d flown to get plastic surgery.
The body of Hilde Lynn Helphenstein, a 40-year-old Californian known online as Jerry Gogosian, was found by her plastic surgeon Sunday in her room at the Rosewood São Paulo when she failed to answer her phone, according to Art Review.
An empty vodka bottle, a broken glass on the floor, and unidentified pills reportedly were found nearby.
Hilde Lynn Helphenstein was found dead by her plastic surgeon. JamPressHelphenstein had been in São Paulo for three weeks, recovering from a cosmetic procedure.
Her surgeon told authorities he had previously taken her to a hospital after a possible overdose and claimed she was using substances.
An official cause of death has yet to be released, but police have registered it as a “suspicious death.”
A hotel spokesperson told Hyperallergic that “the hotel has provided full collaboration with the competent authorities, promptly providing all the information requested to assist in the investigation.”
They noted that the hotel would not comment further out of “respect for the privacy of the guest, their family members, and the work of the responsible authorities.”
She had been in the country for three weeks after flying there for plastic surgery. JamPressHelphenstein, from Oakland, California, built her Gogosian character as a satire of the excesses and commercialization of the contemporary art world.
She had at least 150,000 followers on Instagram.
A graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute, she hosted the podcast “Art Smack,” served as editor-in-chief of “The Jerry Report” bulletin, and collaborated with major names including Phillips, Playboy, and Sotheby’s.
Her final Instagram posts, shared just hours before her death, featured light-hearted advice and excitement about her time in Brazil.
