Inside This Week's PEOPLE Cover Featuring Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain
In a week that will forever be marred by tragedy, the world lost two beloved icons: Designer Kate Spade on June 5 and chef Anthony Bourdain on June 8, both from apparent suicide.
PEOPLE is highlighting both Spade and Bourdain‘s lives, legacies and deaths in this week’s issue, and also prominently featuring the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline — at 1-800-273-8255 — on the magazine’s cover.
“The terrible deaths of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain have raised awareness of the alarming rise in suicide rates,” PEOPLE Editor-in-Chief Jess Cagle explains.
“We hope that publishing the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on the cover of People makes this resource more visible to anyone who needs it. The information also appears on this week’s cover of our sister publication, Entertainment Weekly.”
Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the United States, with nearly 45,000 Americans taking their own lives each year, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
According to a recent CDC report, the rates of suicide in the U.S. soared by 30 percent between 1999 and 2016. Along with the historic causes of suicide — feelings of isolation, relationship issues, financial troubles and more — the recent increases are thought to be from the rise of social media, increase in opioid use and a surge of mood disorders and anxiety, among other reasons.
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), text “help” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or go to suicidepreventionlifeline.org.
RELATED: Suicide Hotline Calls Jumped 25 Percent Following Deaths of Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline has already received a surge in calls in the wake of both Spade and Bourdain’s apparent suicides, according to the director John Draper, who said that the number of calls were up compared to the previous week.
If you or someone you know is considering suicide or dealing with depression, experts agree the best thing to do is to talk.
Draper told the Wall Street Journal, “The research is really clear that these calls have been shown to reduce emotional distress and suicidal crisis.”
RELATED: Kate Spade Suffered from Depression and Anxiety: How the Conditions Can Lead to Suicide
“Talking saves lives,” Dr. Kevin Gilliland, Psy.D., a clinical psychologist and director of Innovation360, an outpatient resource center, told PEOPLE last week. “Ask them if they have had the thought or feeling like it would be better to ‘just not be alive. Express empathy for the person and offer to help them get connected to people that can help them with how they are feeling. Help them develop a plan to get help and follow-through with them until they get connected.”
Gilliland added, “People often don’t know they are depressed or what’s wrong with them and may need your help getting connected to the appropriate healthcare people that can treat their condition.”
