Kate Spade had been suffering from mental anguish and drinking alone in the years leading up to her suicide, the fashion icon’s friend has revealed.
Jill Kargman, a writer and former Spade intern at Mademoiselle magazine, recounted how the designer’s drinking habits had shifted from celebratory to solitary in the later years of her life.
Talking with The Wall Street JournalShe said: ‘I think I was already looking at it through the prism of slight concern, but I never in a million years thought she would take her own life, not in a million years.’
Spade was found dead at age 55 in her Manhattan apartment on June 5, 2018, and police reported that she had left a note addressed to her only child, Frances Valentine Beatrix Spade.
The day after her death, the fashion designer’s husband, Andy Spade, released a statement revealing that his wife was taking medication for depression and anxiety but said there were no substance abuse issues.
He said: ‘Kate suffered from depression for many years.
Kate Spade was found dead at age 55 in her Park Avenue apartment on June 15, 2018. Pictured: Kate Spade and her husband Andy attend a DIFFA charity event at Steuben Glass Works, New York, 2000
Jill Kargman (pictured), Spade’s former intern at Mademoiselle magazine, recounted how the designer’s drinking habits had shifted from celebratory to solitary in the later years of her life.
‘She was actively seeking help and working closely with doctors to treat her illness, one that claims too many lives.
“We spoke to her last night and she seemed happy. There was no indication or warning that she was going to do that.
“It was a total shock. And it clearly wasn’t her. She was battling personal demons.”
Spade’s father, Frank Brosnahan, revealed at the time that the iconic designer had “been taking some pills, which I advised her not to take” and said he was aware that his most famous of six children had been struggling with mental health issues.
“Well, I don’t know what happened,” he said as he recalled a phone conversation they had the night before she died.
“The last time I spoke to her… she was happily planning a trip to California to look at colleges. She adored her daughter.”
Speaking to Dailymail.com in 2018, Spade’s older sister Reta Saffo said she struggled to cope with her celebrity status, which worsened her reported bipolar disorder.
“My little sister Katy was a very, very precious little person,” Saffo said. “Genuine in almost every way.
‘Simply darling, but she was surrounded by yes-sayers for too long, therefore she didn’t get the proper care for what I believed to be (and tried numerous times to get her help for) bipolar disorder… stemming from her immense celebrity.’
Saffo said her sister never imagined the success her brand would have and how she, with it, would become a household name: “She never expected it, nor was she properly prepared for it.”
At the time of Spade’s death, the Kate Spade New York Foundation donated $1 million to mental health and suicide prevention causes.
Kate Spade (pictured) had been taking medication for anxiety and depression before her death, according to her husband and father.
“We talked to her last night and she seemed happy. There was no indication or warning that she was going to do this,” Spade’s husband, Andy (pictured left), said after her suicide.
Kargman told the Wall Street Journal: “I think I was already looking at it through the prism of mild concern, but I never in a million years thought she would take her life, not in a million years.”
Liz Fraser, Kate Spade’s current chief executive, told the paper that the company has a “genuine responsibility” to speak out about mental health and amplify the message on the topic following Spade’s death.
The brand now claims to be one of the world’s largest corporate donors to women’s mental health initiatives.
But during Spade’s reign over the fashion world, since 1993 when she and Andy founded Kate Spade New York, mental health was considered taboo and not much talked about.
The designer’s family and friends insisted she was a happy, positive woman who loved her life, but admitted that everyone experiences their own private struggles.
Pamela Bell, one of Kate Spade’s co-founders and co-founder of the Mental Health Coalition, revealed that after Spade took her life, many people wondered what had happened.
“I don’t think a single thing happened,” he said.
Spade and her husband were separated and living apart just months before her death.
But Andy said they and their daughter, known as Bea, were still a family unit with their daughter.
“We were best friends and we tried to work through our problems the best way we knew how,” she said, after his suicide.
“We were together for 35 years. We loved each other very much and we just needed a break,” she added.
Spade rose to fame in the mid-’90s thanks to her eponymous handbag line and was also the aunt of The Marvelous Mrs Maisel star Rachel Brosnahan.
She and Andy bought the nine-bedroom apartment where she died in 1999 for $2.675 million, and they also owned a vineyard in Napa Valley.
The couple launched their design line in 1993, first starting with just handbags before expanding into clothing and other accessories.
After three years the couple was able to open their first store and continued to grow the business over the next decade.
By 2004, he had launched national and international lines, although by then he had already sold most of his company.
Andy also launched a line of men’s handbags, Jack Spade, in 1996, which is still sold in stores such as Barneys.
Neiman Marcus purchased 56 percent of the company in 1999 and the remaining 44 percent in 2006, at which time Kate left the business to raise her daughter.
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