From New York Post
Jagger and designer girlfriend L’Wren Scott split before suicide
Mick Jagger was “devastated” to learn that his long-time lover killed herself in her Manhattan condo on Monday — and left the Rolling Stones’ Australia tour to come to New York.
L’Wren Scott, who recently split from Jagger after 13 years and was millions of dollars in debt because of her crumbling business, used a black satin scarf to hang herself from a balcony door handle, sources said.
Scott, 49, sent a text message around 8:30 a.m. telling her assistant, Brittany Penebre, to “come by” her ninth-floor duplex on Eleventh Avenue and West 24th Street at 10 a.m., the sources said.
Penebre arrived on elevator that opens directly into the spacious apartment, and found Scott hanging from the L-shaped handle, sources said.
She called 911 and Scott was pronounced dead at the scene.
The 6-foot-3 Scott rigged a makeshift noose that let her body weight cut off the oxygen to her brain. A law-enforcement source described it as a “painless” way to die.
There was no note, no evidence of drugs and no sign of foul play, sources said.
A spokesman for Jagger said the singer was “completely shocked and devastated” by Scott’s death.
The band’s Web site didn’t say if any shows had been cancelled, but Jagger’s trip to New York will at least require the Wednesday show in Perth to be postponed.
Last week, Scott told a longtime friend from her native Utah that the legendary Rolling Stones frontman had dumped her, a source said. And a law enforcement source described her as the rocker’s “former” girlfriend
Jagger’s rep insisted that the Hall of Fame rocker and Scott — who began dating in 2001 — were “absolutely” still a couple when she died.
Several close friends, including actress Ellen Barkin, went to Scott’s apartment after learning of her death and spent time there with her body, a pal said.
“They’ve known that something was going on, and it’s been going on for at least a week,” the friend said, adding that Scott had been acting strangely and ducking phone calls.
Scott’s London-based business, LS Fashion Ltd., was deep in debt, with an October balance sheet revealing it was $5.9 million in the red for 2012 after recording a $4.2 million deficit for 2011.
Scott’s suicide also followed the last-minute cancellation of her London Fashion Week show last month, with WWD reporting that she had blamed “production delays in key show and couture pieces.”
But a fashion-industry source said the real reason the show was scrapped was that “L’Wren’s business just crashed.”
The adopted daughter of Mormon parents, Scott was raised in a small town in Utah as Luann Bambrough before getting discovered by famed fashion photographer Bruce Weber.
She moved to Paris to model for Chanel and Thierry Mugler before becoming a Hollywood stylist, then branched out into design, with her signature “Headmistress” dress worn by celebs including Madonna and longtime pal Nicole Kidman, who also lives in Scott’s building.