Matthew Byars, an assistant and talent manager who briefly appeared on Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of Potomac,” has died. He was 37

Byars was pronounced dead Thursday as a result of “multiple blunt force injuries,” a spokesperson for the Maryland Chief Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed to The Times on Friday. The medical examiner ruled his manner of death as suicide.

No additional details were immediately available.

Byars, who was not a Bravo talent, was friends with several cable network reality star “housewives.” He was introduced in a Season 3 episode of “RHOP” as a member of Karen Huger’s management team and famously appeared at her controversial “press conference,” which Huger held to clear up rumors about her financial troubles and, later, so she said, because of who her real friends were.

Representatives for Huger did not immediately respond to The Times’ requests for comment on Friday.

In a 2019 interview with the Daily Dish, Huger said she knew Byars since he was a teenager and encouraged him “when life is hard.”

“A lot of people call me ‘Mama Karen’ in Potomac because I love helping young people,” she said. “When life got against him, I contacted him and told him to go to school, and he did, and now we work together.”

Melissa Gorga, star of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, was among those to pay tribute to Byars on social media.

“Matt – Why didn’t you tell me Matt?” Gorga wrote on Instagram on Friday, posting a video of them together. “I’m devastated. Your personality was infectious. Your jokes, you always had them. You should have gotten up. I know it was your dream. My heart hurts Matt. Because you didn’t tell me earlier this week.

“I know life has been hard, I know,” she added. “Thank you for bringing me my very first performance of ‘ON DISPLAY’ – You and Me – WE ARE LOYAL. They don’t make them like we do. I wish I could have saved you. Thanks for the memories… Go fly, make them laugh.”

“RHOP” cast member Charrisse Jackson-Jordan shared a photo taken with Byars on her Instagram Story with the caption “Rest In Peace.”