The friend of a model who was found dead hours after writing a cryptic Facebook message has revealed her touching "lasting" memory of the mother-of-four.
Irish Daily Mirror writer Siobhan O'Connor, who described herself as one of Alli MacDonnell's closest friends, wrote an article on Wednesday naming the 37-year-old "one of the most selfless down-to-earth girls I’ve ever met".
Shortly before passing away on Sunday, February 3rd, MacDonnell posted a message that read: "Why is it ok for a man to call a girl a fat ugly c**t?????? Seriously new level of pushing someone to the edge." [sic]
In her article, O'Connor wrote of an occasion when she spoke to MacDonnell on the phone, claiming she "admired the bones of her".
"As tributes pour in for the beautiful 37-year-old mum-of-four, my lasting memory of Alli is as one of my true confidantes," she wrote. "Two weeks ago, I phoned her to tell her I admired the bones of her. My partner John was working abroad and I was home alone with my two little girls, barely coping. For the entire three days, I was a nervous wreck trying to muddle through the madness."
She continued: "I phoned Alli to congratulate her on single-handedly rearing four beautiful children and to ask her about her own coping skills. I could barely handle a few days going solo and she told me I was 'enough', I was doing the best I could.
"In her usual, gregarious, witty way she laughed her head off at me as she whipped up a fry [up] for her large family and told me: 'Welcome to the club, it’s tough but so worth it, it’s feeding time at the zoo here. I have to get up at 6am every day and keep going until I collapse into bed by 9pm, just to keep the show on the road.'
"This was Alli all over, a multi-tasking beauty who, to the outside world, had it all under control."
In addition, O'Connor described how her friend, who campaigned with Autism Ireland to raise awareness after two of her own children were diagnosed with the condition, would always offer what she had without expecting anything in return.
Her emotional article read:
"At our regular soirees at her best friend John Compton and Marlon Jiminez-Compton’s home in Castleknock, she was always the one to serve up gourmet feasts. Her remit was simple – give, give, give without ever expecting to receive.
"At a recent gathering several weeks ago, I caught Alli changing our two-year-old daughter’s nappy. I cajoled her for taking on another task and she brushed it off, saying: 'I change a dirty nappy every half an hour, sure I used to work in a creche.'"
MacDonnell was a regular guest on the television show, Ireland AM and was allegedly in talks with TV bosses about appearing in two new shows.
It is not clear whether her last Facebook post was connected to her death, and police are not treating the case as suspicious. Detectives have said, however, that they will be investigating anyone the single mother was in contact with before she died.
