TRAGIC END
How fashion designer Kate Spade’s life unraveled before her suicide.
Kate Spade’s suicide on June 5 left fans of the iconic fashion designer reeling. But those closest to her say the warning signs were there. Before Kate, 55, was discovered by her housekeeper in the bedroom of her Manhattan home, hanged with a scarf, she’d been suffering from emotional issues and was living apart from her husband of 24 years, Andy (the brother of actor David Spade). “She was actively seeking help for depression and anxiety over the last five years, seeing a doctor... and taking medication,” Andy said in a statement. The couple weren’t legally separated but had been living blocks apart for the last 10 months, co-parenting 13-year-old daughter Frances Beatrix “Bea” Spade. Kate’s career wasn’t the source of stability it once was, either. Her handbags became a status symbol for young women in the 1990s, and her empire grew to include clothing, accessories and more, but she sold her stake in the company in 2006. “Kate’s anxiety has been there throughout her career,” says a source. “She sold the company to raise her daughter but also to avoid the stress that goes with running a huge business. I think she was a little lost after that.” Kate, once a fixture on the New York social scene, “used to go to so many events,” the source says. “But in the last few years, people hardly saw her.” Still, no one expected things to take a tragic turn. “We were in touch...the night before and she sounded happy,” Andy says. “There was no indication and no warning that she would do this. It was a complete shock.”