HER ANGUISH
Spade woes deepened after hubby moved out
KATE SPADE’S faltering marriage plunged her into an emotional tailspin in the weeks before she committed suicide, sources said Wednesday.
The famed designer fell apart after her husband of 24 years moved out of their Park Ave. apartment, cop sources told the Daily News.
After his wife’s death, Andy Spade revealed to investigators that she had been “drinking a lot,” according to TMZ.
The grieving husband and dad acknowledged Wednesday that he had been living apart from his wife for the past 10 months but told The New York Times there were no plans to divorce.
“We were not legally separated, and never even discussed divorce. We were best friends trying to work through our problems in the best way we knew how,” he said in a statement to the paper.
He said Kate Spade started suffering from bouts of severe depression six years ago but gave no hint that she would take her own life.
“There was no indication and no warning that she would do this,” Andy Spade told The Times.
“It was a complete shock. And it clearly wasn’t her. There were personal demons she was battling.”
Kate Spade, renowned for her signature handbags, was found dead Tuesday after she hanged herself with a scarf inside her bedroom.
The 55-year-old fashion icon left a note to her 13-year-old daughter Frances saying the death wasn’t the teen’s fault. The note instructed Frances to seek answers from her father, police sources said.
Andy Spade said he and other family members only learned the details of the note after reading about it in press accounts.
“I am appalled that a private message to my daughter has been so heartlessly shared with the media,” he said.
The new details of Spade’s private turmoil emerged as her famous relatives poured out their hearts in social media tributes.
Comedian David Spade said his sister-in-law was a comic in her own right.
“I don’t think everyone knew how f---ing funny she was,” Spade wrote on Twitter.
On his Instagram page, the ex-“Saturday Night Live” star shared a sweet photo of the two of them looking at each other.
“Fuzzy picture but i love it,” he wrote. “Kate and I during Christmas family photos. We had so much fun that day. She was so sharp and quick on her feet. She could make me laugh so hard.”
He didn’t delve into the details of his sister-in-law’s issues. But he acknowledged that even the rich and famous were vulnerable.
“I still can’t believe it,” the Los Angeles-based Spade wrote. “It’s a rough world out there people, try to hang on.”
Kate Spade’s actress niece Rachel Brosnahan posted a video of the famed designer dancing with her husband Andy as a mariachi band serenaded them.
“Knowing Katy, this is how she would want to be remembered,” wrote Brosnahan, star of the Amazon series “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”
“She had a light that words can’t capture but touched everyone she came into contact with. She was exceedingly kind, beautifully sensitive, insanely talented, funny as heck and one of the most generous people I have ever known.”
A doorman who worked at the family’s building said he was struggling to make sense of her death.
“She was a beautiful person. She knew how to treat people,” the doorman said.
“Even people that work for Uber are coming today to pay their respects. That’s the kind of person she was.”