Kate Spade, the co-founder of the international handbag brand, was found dead by suicide on Tuesday, June 5.

Kate's husband Andy Spade – her partner in both handbag companies Kate Spade and Frances Valentine - issued a statement Wednesday saying the designer suffered from depression and anxiety.

"She was actively seeking help for depression and anxiety over the last five years, seeing a doctor on a regular basis and taking medication for both depression and anxiety," Spade said in the statement, which was obtained by The New York Times.

They had both worked tirelessly on Kate’s handbag company after moving to New York from Arizona in the 1980s, leaving meagerly for years while building the brand. They married in 1994.

Kate told NPR in a 2017 interview that she was a natural “worrier” and was planning to shut down the whole operation after the first– in her eyes- unsuccessful tradeshow appearance in the early 1990s. It was Andy who talked her into keeping the company going.

The pair sold the Kate Spade company to Neiman Marcus in 2006 then launched a new handbag and shoe company called Frances Valentine in 2016.

Andy confirmed that he and his wife had been "living separately" for the past 10 months. He said they were living blocks from each other, and their 13-year-old daughter, Frances Beatrix, was living with both of them.

She was 55.