Kate Spade was suffering mental anguish and drinking alone in the last years before her suicide, friend reveals

Kate Spade suffered from mental health issues and drank alone in the years leading up to her suicide, the fashion icon’s boyfriend has revealed.

Jill Kargman, a writer and former Spade intern at Mademoiselle magazine, told how the designer went from party drinking to solitary drinking in the last years of her life.

Speaking with The Wall Street Journalshe said, “I guess I was looking at it through the lens of mild concern, but I never thought she would commit suicide, not even in a million years.”

Spade was found dead in her Manhattan apartment on June 5, 2018, at age 55. Police said she had left a note addressed to her only daughter, 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 was no evidence of drug abuse.

He said: ‘Kate had suffered from depression for years.

Jill Kargman (pictured), Spade’s former intern at Mademoiselle magazine, told how the designer’s drinking habits went from party-going to solitary in the last years of her life

‘She actively sought help and worked closely with doctors to treat her illness, a disease that claims far too many lives.

‘We had contact with her the night before and she sounded happy. There was no indication or warning that she would do this.

“It was a complete shock. And it clearly wasn’t her. There were personal demons she was battling.”

Spade’s father, Frank Brosnahan, said at the time that the iconic designer had “taken some pills that I advised her not to take,” and said he knew his most famous of his six children struggled with mental health issues.

“Well, I don’t know what happened,” he said, recalling a phone call they had the night before her death.

“The last time I spoke to her… she was excited about planning a trip to California to look at colleges. She adored her daughter.”

In a 2018 interview with Dailymail.com, Spade’s older sister Reta Saffo said she struggled with her celebrity status, which made her suspected bipolar disorder worse.

“My little sister Katy was a very, very sweet person,” Saffo said. “Genuine in almost every way.

“Just lovely, but she was surrounded by people saying ‘yes’ for far too long, and as a result she didn’t get the proper care for what I thought was bipolar disorder (and I tried to help her with that countless times), which was a result of her immense fame.”

Saffo says her sister never expected her brand to become so successful, and for her to become a household name: “She never expected it, and she wasn’t really prepared for it.”

When Spade died, the Kate Spade New York Foundation donated $1 million to mental health and suicide prevention causes.

Kate Spade (pictured) had been taking medications for anxiety and depression in the run-up to her death, her husband and father said

“We had contact with her the night before and she sounded happy. There was no indication or warning that she would do this,” Spade’s husband Andy (pictured left) said after her suicide.

Kargman told The Wall Street Journal: “I guess I looked at it through the lens of mild concern, but never in a million years did I think she would take her life, not in a million years.”

Liz Fraser, Kate Spade’s current CEO, told the newspaper that the company has an “authentic responsibility” to talk about mental health and amplify its messages 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 in the fashion world, starting in 1993 when she and Andy Kate founded Spade New York, mental health was taboo and not widely discussed.

The designer’s loved ones said she was generally a cheerful and positive woman who loved life, but they admitted that everyone has their own personal issues.

Pamela Bell, one of Kate Spade’s co-founders and co-founder of the Mental Health Coalition, said many people wondered what happened after Spade committed suicide.

“I don’t think anything happened,” she said.

Spade and her husband were separated and had been living apart for only a few months before her death.

But Andy said she and their daughter, named Bea, were still very much a family.

“We were best friends and tried to solve our problems in the best possible way,” he said after her suicide.

“We were together for 35 years. We loved each other very much and just needed a break,” he added.

Spade rose to fame in the mid-’90s for her eponymous handbag line and was also the aunt of The Marvelous Mrs Maisel star Rachel Brosnahan.

She and Andy bought the nine-room condo where she died in 1999 for $2.675 million and also owned a vineyard in Napa Valley.

The couple launched their design line in 1993. Initially, they focused only on handbags, but later expanded their range to clothing and other accessories.

Three years later, the couple opened their first store and over the next decade the business continued to grow.

By 2004, she had already launched international and domestic lines, but had already sold most of her business.

Andy also launched a men’s bag line, Jack Spade, in 1996, which is still sold at stores like Barneys.

Neiman Marcus bought 56 ​​percent of the company in 1999 and the remaining 44 percent in 2006, at which time Kate left the company to raise her daughter.