David Spade Speaks out About Kate Spade’s Struggle With ‘Depression and Anxiety’

David Spade is still reeling from the death of his sister-in-law, Kate Spade, who died by suicide in 2018. He opened up about her death and her battle with depression, telling The New York Times that “I feel like Katy wouldn’t have done it, five minutes later. But these things happen and there’s no going back.”

“Katy was so funny,” he said. “I don’t know if agoraphobic is the word, but she didn’t like to mingle a lot; she’d have people at her house and she was always so funny.”

Kate took her own life on June 5, 2018, in her Park Avenue apartment in New York. She was 55. Declared a suicide by hanging, her death followed a lengthy battle with anxiety and depression, according to her husband and David’s brother, Andy Spade.

David also discussed the other sudden deaths he has mourned throughout his life. His stepfather died by suicide when David was 15; some of his “close friends” died throughout his high school and college years; close friend and Saturday Night Live co-star Chris Farley died of a cocaine and morphine overdose in December 1997; and David’s opening act, comic Brody Stevens, died by suicide in February.

“People just started going right and left, and I would sit and stare at a wall,” David said. “I just said, ‘OK, I guess I’ll cross my fingers that it doesn’t happen to everyone.’ And more people would go.”

“I don’t want to say I’m immune to it, but there’s a way you just have to learn to shut off the tear valve. It’s just too brutal,” he said.

He mentioned that he still receives hate comments on social media regarding Farley’s death.

“The first couple times it was rough, but now it’s the standard burn. I wish I didn’t get that three times a week,” David said, adding that he believes those who say they wish that he had died instead of Farley simply refuse to accept his solo work without his previous partner in Farley.

“But do you just stop doing what you’re doing because of a tragedy?” he asked. “You have to go, ‘Well, I still like doing this.’ Some people won’t be interested. But I did three sitcoms after that. It wasn’t totally horrible.”

During an appearance on Good Morning America in July 2018, David said that Kate Spade’s death had been “very tough” on the family. He honored her with a $100,000 donation to the National Alliance on the Mental Illness the month prior.

On the one-year anniversary of Kate’s death, the fashion brand she helped launch, Kate Spade New York, said it finished donating $1 million to suicide prevention and mental health groups.

“The Kate Spade New York Foundation announced it is donating $200,000 to The Jed Foundation (JED), which works to protect emotional health and prevent suicide in teens and young adults by partnering with schools and colleges to improve education and awareness programs,” the brand said in a statement to PEOPLE.

Spade can be seen in his new late-night show Lights Out With David Spade, which starts on Comedy Central on July 29.

If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).