Alexander McQueen hanged himself on the eve of mother’s funeral
Fashion designer Alexander McQueen killed himself the day before his mother’s funeral.
His mother Joyce died on February 2nd and McQueen, whose real name was Lee, was devastated and reportedly refused to get out of bed since her death.
He was found hanging at his Mayfair apartment yesterday morning by his cleaner, who called 999.
Sources said he had cuts to his arms and had previously attempted to kill himself. No suicide note was found.
Police are not treating his death as suspicious and a post-mortem examination is due to be carried out today.
His body was removed from the central London property at 4:30pm yesterday and a blond man claiming to be his boyfriend was seen crying outside.
McQueen had a civil partnership with George Forsyth in 2000, but the pair are thought to have separated.
He announced his mother’s death on Twitter nine days ago and later updated it with: “Been a f***ing awful week but my friends have been great but now I have to some how pull myself together and finish with the HELLS ANGLES & PROLIFIC DEAMONS!!!!.”
Friends were said to be concerned about his erratic behaviour following her death.
Today, his website has been replaced with a message from his company asking for privacy for his family.
It said: “At this stage it is inappropriate to comment on this tragic news beyond saying that we are devastated and are sharing a sense of shock and grief with Lee’s family.
“Lee’s family has asked for privacy in order to come to terms with this terrible news and we hope the media will respect this.”
The windows of his Old Bond Street store were empty last night, except a printed message saying he had died.
