Gia Allemand's former boyfriend Ryan Anderson talks about her suicide

For the first time since Long Island native and former "Bachelor" contestant Gia Allemand took her own life in August 2013, her former boyfriend is speaking about her death.

Ryan Anderson, 26, who plays for the New Orleans Pelicans NBA team, offers new details about their relationship and her tragic death in the Nov. 17 issue of Sports Illustrated. It was Anderson who found Allemand, a former Manorville resident, at her New Orleans home on Aug. 12, 2013, after she attempted suicide by hanging. She was still alive when he called 911, but died at the hospital two days later.

At the time of her death, Anderson issued a statement calling Allemand "the most beautiful person I knew, inside and out."

Though Anderson is sparsely quoted directly in the article, it reveals how the Pelicans forward has been grieving since Allemand's death, including how he used his return to the NBA court in January as a way to escape his grief. Anderson states in the interview he played "detective" on their relationship, reliving possible clues he may have taken from his girlfriend's behavior.

More recently, he's become active with suicide outreach groups To Write Love on Her Arms and Out of the Darkness, and spoke at a women’s shelter in Sacramento.

With Allemand's mother, Donna Micheletti, and his father, Anderson started the Gia Allemand Foundation in hopes of helping other young women dealing with problems similar to hers, including low self-esteem, bullying, body image issues and feeling "lost." 

"People need to put a face to [suicide prevention and survival], and I’m OK being that face,” Anderson said. “I’m not overjoyed that I have to talk about the most painful experience of my life, but either I become that face or I tuck [myself] away in a corner and I let this rule over me.”

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In 2010, Allemand finished third on the Jake Pavelka season of ABC's "The Bachelor," behind winner Vienna Girardi and runner-up Tenley Molzahn. She later starred as a housemate on two seasons of the spinoff "Bachelor Pad."

Gina Marie Allemand was born in 1983 in Howard Beach and grew up on Staten Island and Long Island.

"She actually baby-sat my children," Barbara Murphy, 45, of Lindenhurst, told Newsday at the time of Allemand's death.

Murphy added Allemand lived next door while attending Lindenhurst High School. "She was very sweet," recalled Murphy, noting that Allemand was a cheerleader at the time.

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Allemand later began a modeling career with swimsuit competitions, winning Miss Bikini-USA 2008, according to the sponsoring organization. She posed for Maxim men's magazine in 2007.

-- With Frank Lovece and Lauren R. Harrison