When The Healthy, Wealthy and Successful—Kill Themselves

I  n the last few years the fashion world was twice shaken to it’s core by unexpected suicides. First in February 2011 with the death of Alexander McQueen and a second time earlier this year by the death of L’Wren Scott. On the surface both of them seemed to have it all. Success, money, relatively good health and recognition for their work. In both cases they had experienced some upset and turmoil in their lives prior to their deaths. In the case of Alexander McQueen it was the death of his mother which had been preceded by the suicide of his friend Isabella Blow. In L’Wren Scott’s case she was having some financial difficulties with her apparel business and had recently under gone surgery on her knee which left her less able to get around as she recovered. There were also rumors that she and Mick Jagger had taken some time off from their relationship. But although these events are traumatic, they are with the exception of Blow’s suicide, expected setbacks in life.

I always wonder when I hear things like this, if people with so much good fortune and success in life kill them selves, where does that leave the rest of us? Alexander McQueen and L’Wren Scott did not live in the public eye the way some other well know people do, so we not away of every nuance of their lives, and I am sure there is much that we as the public do not know. And I personally have not done an extensive amount of research into their lives. But the fact remains—they did have options. They were not in extreme do or die situations. Both had the resources to seek help. But at some point felt they did not.I can walk out the door of my home and see homeless people shuffling along with nothing. And they are not all in the situation because of substance abuse. They literally do not have a roof over their heads, no food, no security…yet they do not kill themselves. We can turn on the TV and see any variety of severe human suffering, and yet here in the west people will kill themselves with full bellies, healthy bodies and every comfort imaginable.

Alexander McQueen and L’Wren Scott were well known in the fashion world and to a lesser extent in the main stream population. We often focus on people like this because they are well known, but the fact is this happens all the time we just do not hear about it because the people involved are not well known. Some like to think that because Alexander McQueen and L’Wren Scott were “creative” they were more prone to suicide. This is nonsense, there are plenty of creative people who are happy and do not commit suicide. Neither Alexander McQueen or L’Wren Scott left suicide notes, so will never really know why, and even if they did we probably would not have the full picture. But what does this say about our society that people with so much, feel that have so little, or that there were no options left for them in this world? Perhaps they both had undiagnosed bio-chemical depression? Or perhaps they had experienced unspoken things in life that left them less trusting of the world? We will never know. Suicide is a simple answer to a complex set of problems. Ultimately it is an escape, but an escape from what?

For an interesting story and more information on Alexander McQueen’s life and death click here, and for more information on L’Wren Scott’s life and her death please click here.

Image via