Warning Signs Of Kate Spade’s Suicide? Family Members Offer Different Opinions
While the fashion designer's husband acknowledges her severe depression, he says he saw no indication she was on the verge of taking her life. Meanwhile, her older sister says she's not surprised and that Kate was self-medicating.
The New York Times:
Kate Spade’s Death: ‘There Was No Indication And No Warning,’ Says Her Husband
The husband of the designer Kate Spade, who died of what police characterized as suicide, said on Wednesday that she had suffered from severe depression and acknowledged that they had been living apart for the last 10 months. The husband, Andy Spade, said there were no plans to divorce. Mr. Spade was speaking publicly for the first time since her death was announced on Tuesday. Kate Spade, with her husband and business partner, built an idea about a handbag into what became a billion dollar brand, marked by an optimism that resonated deeply with many women for almost three decades. (Friedman, 6/6)
Kansas City Star:
Sister: Kate Spade Had Mental Illness Years Before Suicide
Grieving deeply, Kate Spade's older sister told The Star on Tuesday that her famous designer sister suffered debilitating mental illness for the last three or four years and was self-medicating with alcohol. Spade's apparent suicide on Tuesday, at age 55 inside the bedroom of her New York Park Avenue apartment, "was not unexpected by me," Reta Saffo, Spade's older sister by two years, told The Star by email from her house in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Family members struggled mightily to help Spade but to little avail, she said. "Sometimes you simply cannot SAVE people from themselves!" she wrote. Spade seemed concerned how hospitalization might harm the image of the "happy-go-lucky" Kate Spade brand, she said. She saw how her sister seemed fixated on Robin Williams on the day, in August 2014, that he committed suicide by hanging. (Eric Adle, 6/6)
The Washington Post:
Kate Spade’s Husband, Andy, Says Her Death Came As ‘A Complete Shock’
Spade, who said that he and his wife had been living in separate apartments for the past 10 months, added that the two had spoken the night before her death and that “she sounded happy.” “There was no indication and no warning that she would do this,” he said. “It was a complete shock. And it clearly wasn’t her. There were personal demons she was battling.” (Rosenberg, 6/6)
The Wall Street Journal:
Kate Spade’s Father, Husband Discuss Her Private Troubles
The 55-year-old designer’s troubled inner life contrasts with the image she presented to the world. She was a fashion icon. She and her husband had sold their company for enough money to live a luxurious life. She had taken a decade off from the fashion business to raise a daughter and recently returned to the work she loved, designing sleek yet cheerful handbags and shoes. “Sometimes you know how people visually never grow old? She was one of those people,” said Stan Herman, a New York fashion designer and longtime friend of Ms. Spade. (Kapner and Kanno-Youngs, 6/6)
