Gone too soon. Famed fashion publicist Kelly Cutrone opened up to Us Weekly about her friendship with Kate Spade and revealed she saw the late designer one month before her tragic death.
“It is truly a tragedy … I was a social friend of hers, I was not part of her inner circle. We worked in the same industry together for 25 years,” Cutrone, who was featured on MTV’s The Hills, told Us Weekly on Wednesday, June 6. “Kate was always very animated, sweet and eloquent. She was always very well put together.”
Spade was found dead in her New York City apartment on Tuesday, June 5. Two days later, the medical examiner’s office confirmed to Us that the designer’s cause of death was suicide by hanging.
“I had no idea about their home or love life,” the 52-year-old CEO of People’s Revolution told Us. “But if you think about Kate, her whole inner world is about that brand she built. Her creative vision was one of family, perfection, polkadots, very girly, martinis — it was almost like a 1960’s television show, you know a couple that comes home to to a cocktail and a perfect home. She built a billion dollar brand and you cannot do that without a whole lot of tension, betrayal and life lessons. Trust me she must have been super exhausted.”
Spade and her estranged husband, Andy Spade, launched Kate Spade New York in the ‘90s. After selling the company in the late ‘00s, the pair, who wed in 1994, launched another handbag line called Frances Valentine. They had one child: Frances Beatrix, 13.
Cutrone told Us that she saw Spade about a month before her death, and the two women discussed their children. “She was cheerful and we just talked about having teenagers and we were like ‘Oh my God,’” the author explained. “Kate asked me how my daughter [Ava] was doing in school and I told her you know, ‘New York is heavy,’ so I think it is good for kids to be in nature. We were talking about stuff like that and how crazy the fashion business is now.”
She added: “When I saw Kate like a month ago, we just had the mommy talk on how quickly are daughters were growing up.”
Three days after Spade’s death, celebrity chef and TV personality Anthony Bourdain was also found dead of an apparent suicide. Cutrone reacted to the news of his passing on Twitter on Friday, June 8.
“Seriously, this week sucked,” she wrote. “@Bourdain departs to parts truly unknown. #Bourdain #KateSpade.”
If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or considering suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
With reporting by Michelle Falls
