Kate Spade, 55, Fashion Designer, Found Dead, Suicide

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Mental illness is not a choice. And feeling suicidal is not a choice. And I feel compassion for everyone who is overtaken by such difficult compulsions. I have a very close family member who has lived for 0ver 40 years with severe schizophrenia.

My point is that HOW one chooses to commit suicide is a choice. Those I have known who have committed suicide have spent a lot of time pondering how and when and by what means they will do so. They make plenty of choices in the planning.

I wish she had not chosen to hang herself inside the apartment she lived in with her 13 yr old daughter. That does not mean I do not have compassion for her. I just wish she had made a different plan for that part of it.
 
katydid23 said:
Mental illness is not a choice. And feeling suicidal is not a choice. And I feel compassion for everyone who is overtaken by such difficult compulsions. I have a very close family member who has lived for 0ver 40 years with severe schizophrenia.

My point is that HOW one chooses to commit suicide is a choice. Those I have known who have committed suicide have spent a lot of time pondering how and when and by what means they will do so. They make plenty of choices in the planning.

I wish she had not chosen to hang herself inside the apartment she lived in with her 13 yr old daughter. That does not mean I do not have compassion for her. I just wish she had made a different plan for that part of it.
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I get your point. I actually feel the people who choose out of home spots make it harder on the family. We have so many missing people whose families suffered not knowing where they were until they were found dead in the woods or something. I think disappearing to die is actually more stressful, but suicide is traumatic for the family and loved ones no matter where the person dies.
 
Kate Spade’s Father, Husband Discuss Her Private Troubles

On Monday night, Kate Spade spoke excitedly to her father about a trip she was planning to California with her daughter. On Tuesday morning, she was dead after hanging herself in her Park Avenue apartment, according to police.

Left on a bed, one police official said, was a letter addressed to her 13-year-old daughter. It read: “Bea, I have always loved you. This is not your fault. Ask Daddy.”

“She was happy and we made plans to meet in California,” said her father, Earl “Frank” Brosnahan, of the last conversation he had with his daughter, in an interview Wednesday with The Wall Street Journal.
 
Kate Spade's father: 'She'd be delighted' if her death sheds light on mental illness

Their brother, Earl Brosnahan, told The New York Times that Saffo had been estranged from the family for more than 10 years, and that Spade was the only sibling she had been speaking to. He was taken aback that Saffo "should surface now with very definitive statements that I think are grossly inaccurate.”

But their father, Frank Brosnahan, who contacted The Star on Wednesday, supported Saffo's decision to openly discuss her sister's death and struggles.

"Well, that's up to her," he said. "She's a grown woman and we love her and she means nothing but love for her sister."

He said he suspects and hopes that his daughter's body may come home to Kansas City.

"I think so," said Brosnahan, speaking broadly for the family. "At least that's what I would like. I'd like for her to be buried with her mother. They were very close."
 
At 55 she was facing a new chapter in her life. Her daughter is an age where she is more independent and Mom isn’t needed or included in her life as much now.

This is a huge awakening to a mother who has devoted her life to her daughter since birth. It can be the cause of major depression.

Even though we have read in many articles that Kate chose to get out of the business to raise her daughter, I have another inclination. It would be likely that in the final sale contract, there was a “No Compete Clause” for ten years.

The time would match up well - daughter is 12 or 13. The new business, Frances Valentine, was started two years ago. Therefore, the ten year clause was fulfilled.

This new business was only sold at a few select stores. It was a much higher price point than Kate Spade entered the market, therefore, appealing to a higher end customer.

Can a “new”designer enter the competitive market with the high prices that Kate did and be successful? Wonder how this new business was doing? IMO, she wasn’t seeing the success she saw with the Kate Spade brand in the same time frame. Another factor to add to depression.

A long time marriage falling apart, husband has moved into his own apartment, daughter is splitting time between parents. Sounds like a divorce in the making to me. This couple has grown up together! They have done everything in life together. Now at 55, looking at life as a single person could throw one into a dark place.

If Kate couldn’t face seeking help for her depression years ago for fear of what it would do to the brand, Kate Spade, IMO, she could not face a divorce either.

She was an excellent designer and a favorite of mine. My heart goes out to her family. It is so sad that she couldn't realize the joy of life that was ahead of her with her daughter.
 
It sounds like she was probably self-medicating with alcohol and she may have also been taking prescription medication for a mental illness. That's a terrible combination. I've always loved her designs and I think the fashion and design industry has suffered a loss, but I feel deep compassion for her family. You only get one mom and I feel so sad for her daughter.
 
I just hope this tragedy has helped encourage some people who are suicidal to seek help I am sure it has. It is the worst feeling in the world to live and try to function with a negative voice in your head 24/7 telling you to kill yourself because of the difficulties you face and because there is nothing to live for or look forward to.

I just want to say to anyone here struggling that help is out there anti-depressants and counselling can make a major difference. Speak to the Samaritans, your doctor, a family member or friend and let them know you need support.
 
JPIBuckeye said:
Anybody have any thoughts about this possibly being foul play
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Yes...but not sure just yet what to make of the details. I do believe divorce was discussed, and he went overboard in defense of it.

I went through their individual Instagrams today. There is volumes of take away in my opinion. He had a recent book signing, last 6-8 weeks. It appears he was doing his own thing. One post said I hope my daughter will forgive me for canceling Disney World trip for my exhibition. Paraphrasing...

Her Instagram that I viewed is Fvalentine
 
Kate is at the bottom step. I wonder if the sister near the top is the estranged one.

David Spade...so witty. Motel 6


Mods please delete photos if not within TOS. These are on her personal public site.
 

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liltexans said:
This article clears up many of the rumors circulating right now.

Kate Spade’s Death: ‘There Was No Indication and No Warning,’ Says Her Husband
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From the article:

“She really felt she could power through it on her own,” she said. Sometimes the subject came up in the context of news of a celebrity suicide and, Ms. Arons said, “she’d say to me, ‘I would never do that. I would never do that. I would never do that,’ and I believed her.”

IMO- ^^^ this illustrates so well the profound "two personas" I think.

I've known a few who have committed suicide. I also know a few who by their faith, their religion, believe hell is on earth and to die is divine release.

The three that I know were all older. I don't judge it. Nor do I think the suicide hotline is for everyone.

In this case, like L'Wren, I feel really bad for the assistant, the house cleaner who was intended to discover the tragedy.

In my own discovery of a death, it was not a surprise, but nonetheless traumatic.

Kate Spade intended to have her employee discover her. I am grateful she left a note. But the shock to that poor woman who discovered her is something that cannot be unseen. And my prayers are with her.

One of the absolutes is that we can't ask why. What was that last moment? Why did they do it? Why did they choose to do it? That's where I find I cannot judge.

Kate Spade represents someone who had it all. It makes it seem all the more complex.

What she left behind is a daughter, and a husband, and a family who have to come to terms with her choice, for the rest of their lives. It's an unimaginable loss. One that especially her daughter will bear for the rest of her life.

Sometimes people check out for good reason. And that's part of the understanding, too. --The acceptance. It's not about the promo press for the stigma, the destigmatization, the prevention hotline, because every purposeful, successful suicide knows all those things, and chooses otherwise.

For the young and desperate, ^^ the above can be a life saver. For the young, another way can make all the difference. For all the drug ODs do they intend to end their lives? No, I don't think so.

Kate Spade was a fragile flower, as bright as her phenomenal sense of color, as bright as a shooting star. That's how the creatives can be. I hope and pray her (very young) daughter comes to know forgiveness.
 
rosemadderlake said:
From the article:

“She really felt she could power through it on her own,” she said. Sometimes the subject came up in the context of news of a celebrity suicide and, Ms. Arons said, “she’d say to me, ‘I would never do that. I would never do that. I would never do that,’ and I believed her.”

IMO- ^^^ this illustrates so well the profound "two personas" I think.

I've known a few who have committed suicide. I also know a few who by their faith, their religion, believe hell is on earth and to die is divine release.

The three that I know were all older. I don't judge it. Nor do I think the suicide hotline is for everyone.

In this case, like L'Wren, I feel really bad for the assistant, the house cleaner who was intended to discover the tragedy.

In my own discovery of a death, it was not a surprise, but nonetheless traumatic.

Kate Spade intended to have her employee discover her. I am grateful she left a note. But the shock to that poor woman who discovered her is something that cannot be unseen. And my prayers are with her.

One of the absolutes is that we can't ask why. What was that last moment? Why did they do it? Why did they choose to do it? That's where I find I cannot judge.

Kate Spade represents someone who had it all. It makes it seem all the more complex.

What she left behind is a daughter, and a husband, and a family who have to come to terms with her choice, for the rest of their lives. It's an unimaginable loss. One that especially her daughter will bear for the rest of her life.

Sometimes people check out for good reason. And that's part of the understanding, too. --The acceptance. It's not about the promo press for the stigma, the destigmatization, the prevention hotline, because every purposeful, successful suicide knows all those things, and chooses otherwise.

For the young and desperate, ^^ the above can be a life saver. For the young, another way can make all the difference. For all the drug ODs do they intend to end their lives? No, I don't think so.

Kate Spade was a fragile flower, as bright as her phenomenal sense of color, as bright as a shooting star. That's how the creatives can be. I hope and pray her (very young) daughter comes to know forgiveness.
Click to expand...
,
BBM, No, she did not have it all, She had money, she had business success, but she did not have peace within herself. She did not have contentment. All those material things matter not, if you do not have the other.
 
Jennifer17 said:
,
BBM, No, she did not have it all, She had money, she had business success, but she did not have peace within herself. She did not have contentment. All those material things matter not, if you do not have the other.
Click to expand...

The implication in the quoted sentence is 'she represents'.

She was famous. She also could have been in debt. Like L'Wren.

Some suicides are very peaceful decisions. Imo.

What I see is the dual persona. There is something she kept well hidden.
 
rosemadderlake said:
The implication in the quoted sentence is 'she represents'.

She was famous. She also could have been in debt. Like L'Wren.

Some suicides are very peaceful decisions. Imo.

What I see is the dual persona. There is something she kept well hidden.
Click to expand...
'she represents' what implied thing?
 
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