Mandy Moore 'Heartbroken' By DJ AM's Death

Mandy Moore and DJ AM in 2008
Photo: Chris Weeks/ Getty Images

One of DJ AM's former girlfriends, singer/actress Mandy Moore, expressed her grief on Saturday (August 29) about a man she said was a true friend.

"I am absolutely heartbroken," Moore said in a statement about the DJ, born Adam Goldstein, who was found dead in his Soho apartment in New York on Friday at the age of 36. "For those of us lucky enough to have known him, Adam radiated a contagious exuberance for life and also personified the very definition of a true friend. To say that he will be missed beyond words is an understatement. My heart goes out to his loved ones."

Moore, who married singer/songwriter Ryan Adams in March, flew to AM's side last year when he was badly burned in a plane crash in South Carolina that took the lives of four others. Though the two dated for two months in 2007, they reportedly remained close and, according to Us Weekly, rekindled their romance for a brief period following the accident, in which AM's frequent musical partner, Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, also suffered serious burns.

AM also dated reality-TV star Nicole Richie for several years beginning in 2004, but the couple's on-again, off-again relationship ended a months after they announced their engagement in February 2005. Richie has not yet commented on AM's death, possibly because she is due to give birth to her second child with Joel Madden. A spokesperson for Richie could not be reached for comment at press time.

Richie's onetime best friend, Paris Hilton, tweeted about AM's death, recalling their long friendship. "Adam and I were friends since I was 15," Hilton said. "He had a heart of gold and was one of the kindest, funniest and most talented men I have ever met. ... It's so hard to accept that I'm not going to be able to see him or talk to him again. There are no right words for this, I feel so sad."

The New York City Medical Examiner's office announced on Saturday that autopsy results on AM were inconclusive and further toxicology tests will be needed. AM was reportedly found face-down on the mattress of his bad in just his sweatpants, with bottles of prescription pills and a glass pipe near his body, when police broke into his apartment on Friday evening at the behest of concerned friends.