People: Kate Spade's family 'disgusted' by sister's claims regarding reason for suicide

Deceased Kate Spade’s family is reportedly upset over the remarks of her elder sister Reta Brosnahan Saffo involving Spade’s mental illness.

The family of the deceased designer Kate Spade is reportedly upset over the comments about her death and mental illness made by her estranged elder sister Reta Brosnahan Saffo.

People reported an anonymous source revealing that the remarks made by 57-year-old Reta Brosnahan Saffo, who was Kate Spade’s elder sibling, have saddened the family.

Saffo has reportedly been estranged from the family for close to a decade, and they are disgusted by her unsubstantiated comments about Spade’s mental illness and suicide.

Upon Spade’s death, Saffo reached out to multiple news outlets to open up about Spade’s depression, stating that her act of suicide was not completely unexpected.

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Saffo asserted her belief that Spade was suffering from a mental illness for many years before taking her own life.

The Kansas City Star reported that they received an email from Saffo stating that before Spade’s death, the sisters had a conversation over the phone that lasted 6 to 7 hours.

In the email, Saffo claimed that her sister had been suffering from severe mental illness for three to four years. She added that Spade backed out of undergoing treatment multiple times.

According to Saffo, Spade was concerned about the impact of her hospitalization on her public image, which had been portrayed as happy-go-lucky. In Saffo’s opinion, it was this insecurity and the pressure that led her to go into manic depression.

Saffo admitted to taking a sedative before revealing the information to the local newspaper, which is why she decided to write an email instead of an interview over the phone.

Speaking of the multiple attempts to persuade Spade to undergo medical treatment, Saffo recalled an instance where she told Spade that one of the medical institutions was the same place that had treated Catherine Zeta-Jones.

The family of the deceased has expressed their distress over Saffo’s remarks, stating that as an estranged family member, she did not know Spade well.

Read more about Kate Spade on our Twitter account @amomama_usa.

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