Cathy Horyn: L’Wren Scott Was Going Out Of Business, But Committed Suicide First

Cathy Horyn, a close friend and confidant of fashion designer L’Wren Scott who also wrote about Scott as fashion critic for The New York Times, now says L’Wren Scott was planning to announce that her business was folding on Wednesday. But Scott’s suicide Monday came first.

But writing her first New York Times piece since ending her run as only the second fashion critic the venerable paper has ever employed on January 31, 57-year-old Cathy Horyn said that Scott’s business woes did not necessarily lead to her suicide.

Discussing Scott’s decision to shut down her seven-year-old fashion company LA Fashions Ltd., Cathy Horyn wrote, “as painful as the decision must have been for her, I wouldn’t draw any conclusions from it about her state of mind.”

Horyn also trashed reports that L’Wren Scott, 49, had recently broken up with her romantic partner of the past 10 years 70-year-old Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger.

“Nor should any credence be given to reports of a breakup with Mick,” Cathy Horyn wrote. “It’s rubbish.”

Jagger wrote an online message Tuesday, saying he was “struggling to understand” how his longtime “lover and best friend” could take her own life.

Cathy Horyn recounted that two years ago, she saw that running the company was taking a toll on Scott, and she advised her to close the business — but Scott rejected the advice.

“Two years ago, our friendship was tested when, after hearing her troubles, I told her she should give herself a time limit to resolve matters or get out,” Horyn wrote in her Times piece. “Putting her health in jeopardy because of stress was not worth it, I told her. She didn’t like the advice. And true to form, she dug in.”

But recently, said Cathy Horyn, Scott appeared more downcast about her prospects than Horyn could recall.

“I was surprised to hear how run down and discouraged she sounded. She spoke of production problems, forcing her to cancel her fall show. Again, I urged her to put her health first,” Horyn wrote, concluding, “She was with friends on Sunday night, and, yes, they were deeply concerned about her, but, no, they didn’t think she would do something so desperate. Not L’Wren.”

Cathy Horyn said that the suicide of L’Wren Scott was “inexplicable to me.”

Image: L’Wren Scott Instagram

Second Image: David Shankbone