"I can’t even begin to fathom life without her": Andy Spade on losing Kate, his wife and best friend of 35 years
Kate Spade's husband, Andy Spade received quite a shock after hearing of his wife's suicide. After almost a day since the event, the businessman chose to break his silAndy and ence. Andy expressed his grief over losing his wife and lifelong best friend. “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," he said in the statement, according to People. "My daughter [Frances Beatrix Spade] 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."
After the news about her death came to light, Kate's sister, Reta Saffo, revealed her battle with depression. Andy addressed Kate's mental health in his statement. "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," he revealed. "We were in touch with her the night before and she sounded happy. 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.”
While Andy and Kate had their marital problems, they only wanted to focus on raising their daughter right. “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.
Even though the pair had not been staying together, the idea of divorce was never on the table for discussion. “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,” he continued.
Andy even addressed various rumors that have been surrounding her death. “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.”