On Tuesday, Kate Spade was found dead in her New York City apartment at the age of 55.
The fashion designer was found by her housekeeper at her home on Park Avenue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, the New York Daily News reported, citing unnamed police officials. It’s understood she took her own life.
Associated Press reports her husband, Andy, was home when her death was discovered, while their 13-year-old daughter, Frances Beatrix Spade, was at school.
Spade’s death came with outpourings of grief, musings of talent and saddened reflections on a great life lost.
Above all, the world took a breath and the world took note: Mental health doesn’t discriminate and its throes take no prisoners. The sentiment was loud, clear and – in the case of Kate Spade – too late. Check on your mates, hold your family tight, ask the people around you if they’re doing OK.
Kate Spade, in her many years in the public eye, has become the face of a world that haunts its own celebrities.
In the wake of her death, Spade’s older sister Reta Saffo told Mail Online she struggled for years with bipolar disorder, but was reportedly too scared to seek help in case it hurt her brand.
“My little sister Katy was a precious, precious little person,” she said. “Genuine in almost every way.
“Just dear – but she was surrounded by YES people, for far too long, therefore she did not receive the proper care for what I believed to be (and tried numerous times to get her help for) bipolar disorder… stemming from her immense celebrity.
“We’d get sooo close to packing her bags, but — in the end, the ‘image’ of her brand (happy-go-lucky Kate Spade) was more important for her to keep up. She was definitely worried about what people would say if they found out.”