Rob Rich/Everett Collection
A day after the tragic and shocking suicide of designer Kate Spade, her husband of 24 years and Kate Spade co-founder, Andy Spade released a statement.
“Kate was the most beautiful woman in the world. She was the kindest person I’ve ever known and my best friend for 35 years. My daughter and I are devastated by her loss, and can’t even begin to fathom life without her. We are deeply heartbroken and miss her already,” he began.
Andy, who shares 13-year-old daughter, Frances Beatrix, with Kate, continued his statement by addressing his wife’s mental illness that many did not know about.
“Kate suffered from depression and anxiety for many years. She was actively seeking help and working closely with her doctors to treat her disease, one that takes far too many lives. We were in touch with her the night before and she sounded happy,” Andy said. “There was no indication and no warning that she would do this. It was a complete shock. And it clearly wasn’t her. There were personal demons she was battling.”
He added that the pair were no longer living together at the time of his wife’s death, confirming multiple reports about their marital troubles. “For the past 10 months we had been living separately, but within a few blocks of each other. Bea was living with both of us and we saw each other or spoke every day. We ate many meals together as a family and continued to vacation together as a family. Our daughter was our priority,” he said.
“We were not legally separated, and never even discussed divorce. We were best friends trying to work through our problems in the best way we knew how. We were together for 35 years. We loved each other very much and simply needed a break,” Andy continued.
He concluded his statement by slamming any other reports that have circulated about Kate’s death and the finances of her brand Frances Valentine, as she had sold Kate Spade New York more than a decade earlier.
“This is the truth. Anything else that is out there right now is false. She was actively seeking help for depression and anxiety over the last 5 years, seeing a doctor on a regular basis and taking medication for both depression and anxiety. There was no substance or alcohol abuse. There were no business problems,” Andy said.
He added, “We loved creating our businesses together. We were co-parenting our beautiful daughter. I have yet to see any note left behind and am appalled that a private message to my daughter has been so heartlessly shared with the media. My main concern is Bea and protecting her privacy as she deals with the unimaginable grief of losing her mother. Kate loved Bea so very much.”
Previous to Andy’s statement, the family released a statement and Andy’s brother, actor David Spade, paid tribute to his late sister-in-law on social media.