Andy Spade Breaks His Silence After Kate Spade’s Tragic Death: She Suffered From Anxiety & Depression ‘For Many Years’

One day after fashion designer Kate Spade died from an apparent suicide, her husband and business partner, Andy Spade, is breaking his silence.

In a Wednesday afternoon statement to Access, the entrepreneur and father reflected on the legacy of his late wife, whom he called “the most beautiful woman in the world” and “the kindest person I’ve ever known.”

“My daughter 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,” Andy wrote.

Andy revealed that Kate suffered from depression and anxiety and had been actively seeking medical help and taking medication for her mental illness over the last five years.

“We were in touch with her the night before and she sounded happy,” Andy wrote. “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.”

VIDEO: Kate Spade’s Family Disagree Over Her Mental Health Issues

Andy also shared that he and Kate had been “living separately, but within a few blocks of each other” in Manhattan, but worked together to co-parent their 13-year-old daughter, Frances Beatrix.

“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 shared. 

“We were not legally separated, and never even discussed divorce,” Andy continued. “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.”

Kate was discovered dead in her New York City apartment by her housekeeper on Tuesday morning, NYPD confirmed to Access. NYPD confirmed the clothing and accessories mogul was found hanged with a scarf and left a note addressed to her daughter, Bea. 

In his statement, Andy questioned the existence of a note and shared his disgust that the contents of such a letter would be disseminated by police.

“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,” he wrote.

VIDEO: Kate Spade’s Death Bears Eerie Similarities To The Passing Of L’Wren Scott

You can read Andy’s full statement below:

“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. My daughter 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.

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. 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.

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. 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.

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. 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.”

VIDEO: Celebrities & Fashion Designers React To Kate Spade’s Death