Kate Spade's friends reflect on her private pain six years after designer's shock death

Kate Spade had been suffering from private mental anguish in the years leading up to her suicide, the fashion icon's friends have revealed.

Jill Kargman, a writer and Spade's former intern at Mademoiselle magazine told how the socialite designer had retreated into solitude in the final years of her life.

Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, she said: 'I think I was already looking at it through the prism of slight worry, but never in a million years did I think she would take her life, not in a million years'.

Spade was found dead aged 55 in her Manhattan apartment on June 5, 2018, and police reported she had left a note, which was addressed to her only daughter, Frances Valentine Beatrix Spade. 

The day following her death, the fashion designer's husband, Andy Spade, released a statement that revealed his wife was on medication for depression and anxiety - but said there were no substance-abuse issues.

He said: 'Kate suffered from depression and for many years.

 Kate Spade was found dead at the age of 55 in her Park Avenue apartment on June 15, 2018. Pictured: Kate Spade and husband Andy attend a DIFFA benefit at Steuben Glass Works, New York City, 2000

Jill Kargman, a writer and Spade's former intern at Mademoiselle magazine told how the socialite designer had retreated into solitude in the final years of her life 

Pictured: A Kate Spade store in Manhattan, New York 

'She was actively seeking help and working closely with 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. 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'.

Spade's father, Frank Brosnahan, revealed at the time that iconic designer had 'been taking some pills, which I advised her not to take' and said he was aware that his most famous of six children had been struggling with mental health issues.

'Well, I don't know what happened,' he said while recalling a phone conversation they had the night before she died.

'The last I talked with her... she was happy planning a trip to California to look at colleges. She doted on her daughter.'

Speaking to Daily Mail in 2018, Spade's older sister Reta Saffo said she struggled to cope with her celebrity status, which made her suspected bipolar disorder worse.

'My little sister Katy was a precious, precious little person,' Saffo 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.'

Saffo said her sister never anticipated how successful her brand would become - and how she, with it, would become a household name: 'She never expected it - nor was she properly prepared for it.'

At the time of Spade's death, the Kate Spade New York Foundation donated $1million to mental-health and suicide prevention causes.

Kate Spade (pictured) had been taking medication for anxiety and depression in the lead up to her death, according to her husband and father

Celebrities including Gwyneth Paltrow have been spotted using Kate Spade's iconic handbags

One of Spade's shimmery satin evening bags was seen on the arm of Rosario Dawson at the 2006 Met Gala

'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.,' Spade's husband Andy (pictured left) said after her suicide

Kargman told The Wall Street Journal: 'I think I was already looking at it through the prism of slight worry, but never in a million years did I think she would take her life, not in a million years'

Liz Fraser, Kate Spade's current CEO told the newspaper that the company has 'authentic responsibility' to talk about mental health and amplify the message around it after Spade's death.

The brand now claims it is one of the world's biggest corporate donors to women's mental health initiatives.

But during Spade's reign within the fashion world, from 1993 when she and Andy founded Kate Spade New York, mental health was deemed a taboo and was not widely spoken of.

The designer's nearest and dearest insisted she was mostly a happy and positive woman who loved her life, but admit everyone experiences their own private struggles.

Pamela Bell, one of the Kate Spade co-founders and a co-founder of the Mental Health Coalition revealed that after Spade had taken her life, many people wondered just what had happened.

'I don't think any one thing happened,' she said.

Spade and her husband were separated and had been living apart just a few months before her death.

But Andy said they and their daughter, known as Bea, were still very much a family unit with their daughter.

'We were best friends trying to work through our problems in the best way we knew how, he said, following her suicide.

'We were together for 35 years. We loved each other very much and simply needed a break,' he added.

Spade shot to fame in the mid-90s thanks to her eponymous line of handbags and was also the aunt of Rachel Brosnahan, the star of The Marvelous Mrs Maisel.

She and Andy bought the nine-room apartment in which she died in 1999 for $2.675 million, and also owned a vineyard in Napa Valley.

The couple launched their design line back in 1993, starting at first with just handbags before expanding to clothes and other accessories.

Three years in the couple was able to open their first store, and for the next decade continue to grow the company.

She had launched international and home lines by 2004, having by that point sold off most of her company.

Andy also launched a men's line of bags, Jack Spade, in 1996, which is still sold at stores such as Barneys.

Neiman Marcus purchased 56 per cent of the company in 1999 and the remaining 44 per cent by 2006, at which time Kate left the business to raise her daughter.