Fashion icon Kate Spade was so distraught over her impending divorce from husband Andy Spade that she committed suicide in her New York City apartment on Tuesday.
Spade, 55, wrote a suicide note to her daughter, 13-year-old Frances Beatrix, telling her to “ask daddy” why she killed herself. Then she fashioned a red scarf into a noose and hanged herself from a doorknob.
Spade was upset over “problems at home,” a source tells the NY Daily News.
Police disputed earlier reports that Andy Spade was in the Upper East Side apartment when Spade died. He wasn’t there.
A housekeeper discovered Spade’s body in a bedroom at 10:10 am. She was pronounced dead at 10:20 am. The note was found on the bed near her body.
Her husband, Andy Spade, broke his silence and revealed Spade to Reuters that Spade suffered from comorbid depression and anxiety disorders.
Page Six reports that Andy Spade looked at a few apartments in preparation to begin his life as a single father several months ago.
Spade’s sister Reta Saffo said in an email to the Daily News that she was not surprised that Spade took her own life.
Saffo confirmed that Spade suffered from bipolar disorder (manic depression).
“I will say this was not unexpected by me. I’d flown out to Napa and NYC several times in the past 3-4 years to help her to get the treatment she needed (inpatient hospitalization). She was always a very excitable little girl and I felt all the stress/pressure of her brand (KS) may have flipped the switch where she eventually became full-on manic depressive,” Saffo wrote.
Safe said she tried to get Spade into treatment in her later years, but the fashion designer was concerned about her public image if word got out.
“She was all set to go — but then chickened out by morning. We’d get sooo close to packing her bags, but — in the end, the ‘image’ of her brand (happy-go-lucky Kate Spade) was more important for her to keep up. She was definitely worried about what people would say if they found out,” Saffo said.
FYI: an earlier version of this post attributed misquoted Kate Spade’s sister, Eve Brosnahan. That quote was deleted. I apologize for the error.
Photo by Getty Images
