Daniel Mickelson Dead: 'Mani' Actor, Fashion Model Was 23

Daniel Mickelson, a model and actor with roles in web series Mani and the 2019 indie comedy The Killer Clown Meets the Candy Man, died July 4, his sister announced Monday night. He was 23.

A cause of death was not disclosed for the Atlanta native.

“My heart is shattered & to write this feels so wrong and i don’t even know what to say,” Meredith Mickelson, a model, posted on Instagram. “Yesterday i lost my brother, best friend & the other half of my heart. There wasn’t a person i loved more on this earth. theres no words that can do him justice that i could write. to know him was to love him. he was the happiest brightest smiley most sunshine human to exist and I’m so happy God chose me to be his sister for his whole amazing life.”

Daniel Mickelson launched a fashion brand and clothing line called Kids Back Home in January.

The young actor was remembered by peers on Instagram and other social media, with Patrick Schwarzenegger telling Mickelson’s sister, “Praying for you,” and model Kaia Gerber posting, “I remember that time we sat on the couch and spent the whole day coming up with our own secret language that we continued to speak every time we saw each other. I wish we could go back there. I wish we were still talking in sentences that probably annoyed everyone else but made us crack up every time.”

“So sad to hear this. RIP,” wrote Paris Hilton.

Mickelson’s girlfriend, Maddie Haley, wrote on Instagram, “I wish my plans to spend the rest of my life with you weren’t stripped away from me like this. I wish I could tell you how much I love you and I wish I got the chance to say goodbye. I’m not sure how I’m going to get through this but I’m going to be strong for you because I know it’s what you would have wanted.”