Alexander McQueen was allegedly HIV positive at the time of his 2010 suicide
In February 2010, the fashion and celebrity world was stunned when beloved fashion designer Alexander “Lee” McQueen took his own life. He had suffered tremendous personal loss at that time – several years earlier, one of his closest friends, Isabella Blow, committed suicide. And just nine days before Lee hanged himself, his mother had passed away. It seemed like the only things keeping him tethered to the world were his beloved dogs (in fact, his suicide note was basically a plea for someone to take care of his dogs). And that was the story for the most part – a troubled, passionate and brilliant man faces tremendous loss and depression and commits suicide. But now a source claims there might have been more to Lee’s state of mind:
Alexander McQueen admitted he was HIV positive before he killed himself in 2010. The Post’s Maureen Callahan reports in her new book, “Champagne Supernovas,” that McQueen made the admission to friend Chris Bird at a party a few years before his death.
According to the new book, here’s how Bird responded to McQueen: “I just sort of said to him, ‘Well, that was bloody stupid, wasn’t it?’ And he just said, ‘Yeah.’”
It was rumored his HIV status was one of the factors that drove the designer to commit suicide, along with drug use and depression. Callahan will give a reading of the book at the Strand bookstore in Union Square on Tuesday evening.
Someone tells you that they’re HIV positive and you’re reaction is “Well, that was bloody stupid, wasn’t it?” Yeah, Chris Bird sounds like an a—hole. But if Lee was HIV positive… okay. HIV isn’t a death sentence in the first world these days. With the right antiretroviral drug cocktail, HIV can be managed and you can live a healthy, productive life. If he was HIV positive, I could see how that would contribute to his depression but it’s not like the old days of HIV/AIDS where he would have only had a short time left. He had YEARS and DECADES left.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
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