The Russian supermodel who gave up her life by jumping down from her ninth-floor Manhattan apartment on Saturday "felt confused about the direction of her life," media quoted her ex-boyfriend as saying today.

Ruslana Korshunova, 20, had trouble balancing her personal life and her demanding work schedule, according to her ex-boyfriend Artem Perchenok.

She had dropped a lot of weight in the last month, said Perchenok, who was with the Russian Vogue cover girl on the last night of her life.

Korshunova wrote months before in her online journal that she felt "lost" in America.

"Will I ever find myself?" she added in March on her page on a Russian social networking site.

Korshunova felt she was over the hill in a business that's always looking for a brand new face, her ex said.

New York police on Sunday declared Korshunova's death a suicide. One investigator said they found several bottles of medication in her apartment.

But her family and friends were yet to be convinced.

The supermodel's mother said the suicide was "completely unexpected."

"She's had her ups and downs but never anything that would lead to suicide," she was quoted as saying.

"She was a positive person," Korshunova's 26-year-old brother, Ruslan, agreed in a telephone interview, "She was not capable of such things."

A cousin, Nastya Chkopoya, 19, said "Everyone knows she was a good person. It's not suicide. Of course, she will be buried in her homeland."

Although born in Kazakhstan, Korshunova was known in the modeling business as the "Russian Rapunzel" because of her flowing chestnut hair.

Korshunova was four days from her 21st birthday. She was featured in ads for Marc Jacobs, DKNY and Vera Wang, and also made the cover of French Elle.

Before her death, Korshunova had a full schedule of high-profile modeling jobs in New York and had recently returned from Paris.