The suicide death of Kate Spade has rocked the fashion industry, and now new details are coming out about her personal life in the months ahead of the tragedy. According to a new report by The Blast , Andy Spade, the late handbag designer’s husband of 24 years, was recently looking to purchase a new apartment in New York City due to the couple’s marital problems.
Andy Spade, who was also Kate’s business partner, was reportedly shopping for a new one- or two-bedroom apartment in Manhattan and he viewed several available properties around the city within the past year. An insider confirmed to People that “Kate and Andy were having relationship problems” before the iconic designer’s death. In addition, multiple sources told Us Weekly that Kate Spade recently separated from husband Andy Spade and that there were difficulties with the creative direction and finances for the couple’s recently launched spinoff brand, Frances Valentine.
Kate Spade was found dead by a housekeeper after hanging herself with a scarf in the couple’s Upper East Side home. Andy Spade was reportedly in the home in the morning hours when his wife died.
Learn more about the late Kate Spade’s husband and business partner: https://t.co/tjRcKbQ81A
— HollywoodLife (@HollywoodLife) June 5, 2018
Kate and Andy Spade married in 1994, during the early days of their designer handbag business. In 2005, they welcomed their only child, a daughter they named Frances Beatrix. Ahead of the couple’s alleged recent relationship woes, they talked about their happy marriage.
Kate Spade once told People that the secret to her happy marriage to Andy was “taking their vows seriously.” Kate also revealed that she and Andy laughed a lot together.
In a 2017 interview with BUILD Series , Andy Spade talked about what it was like working with his wife on a new venture after nearly 30 years together.
“I think the change is that we really manage our time better, so we have our time to be home with our daughter and then we have our time to kind of go to the office and do our work,” Andy said. ” We worked day and night for the first 20 years at Kate Spade, so now we kind of try to have a life at the same time.”
In a statement about Kate Spade’s death, the Spade family said, “We are all devastated by today’s tragedy. We loved Kate dearly and will miss her terribly. We would ask that our privacy be respected as we grieve during this very difficult time.”
If you or someone you know is in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741. For readers outside the U.S., visit Suicide.org or Befrienders Worldwide for international resources you can use to find help.