Kate Spade’s Husband Reportedly Wanted A Divorce, Sending Her Into Depression
Depression in addition to the breakdown of her marriage was reportedly weighing heavily on designer Kate Spade at the time of her suicide. Law enforcement sources are now saying that the future of the Spade marriage was being debated, as husband Andy Spade wanted a divorce and Kate did not.
TMZ is reporting that a law enforcement source spoke to them directly about the fact that they don’t believe that there was any outside intervention in Kate Spade’s death. But they did confirm that Andy Spade had moved out of the family home and was seeking a divorce from his designer partner.
Kate and Andy Spade had separated and Andy was renting his own apartment nearby. In a police interview, Andy confirmed that he was the one who wanted to end the marriage, and Kate was holding on.
TMZ added that one can infer from the portion of her suicide note that Kate Spade believed that her estranged husband knew why she killed herself.
“Bea – I have always loved you. This is not your fault. Ask Daddy!”
Or one could surmise that Spade was assuring her daughter that she could verify with her father that she was truly loved by her mother.
“I still can’t believe it,” he wrote alongside a photo of the two of them https://t.co/KUL4cWliD6
— Page Six (@PageSix) June 6, 2018
Regardless of what was driving the breakup of the Spade marriage, it is clear the mental health concerns were a great factor, reports Heavy. Kate Spade’s older sister, Reta Saffo, said that she had been trying to convince Kate to get help for several years without success and that Spade had been “self-medicating with alcohol.”
Saffo emailed a statement to the Kansas City Star to explain that her sister’s suicide did not come as a surprise, as Saffo believed that Spade required in-patient care.
“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. … I’d come so VERY close to getting her to go in for treatment. I’d spoken with them on the phone (not telling them exactly who the patient would be). They agreed to fly in and talk with her and take her with them to the treatment center.”
Kate and Andy had a wonderful, creative partnership and relationship during their 24-year marriage. https://t.co/MVT75NT4HR
— E! News (@enews) June 6, 2018
Saffo explains that Spade seemed fixated with the death of comedian Robin Williams, who had also taken his own life by hanging back in 2014.
“I think there was a plan even as far back as then.”
Saffo and other members of the Spade family tried in vain to get Kate help, but she says that, ultimately, Kate’s pain was too great.
“Sometimes you simply cannot SAVE people from themselves.”
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.
