Illness
Toward the end of her life, Blow had become seriously depressed and was reportedly anguished over her inability to "find a home in a world she influenced". Daphne Guinness, a friend of Blow's stated, "She was upset that Alexander McQueen didn't take her along when he sold his brand to Gucci. Once the deals started happening, she fell by the wayside. Everybody else got contracts, and she got a free dress". According to a 2002 interview with Tamsin Blanchard, it was Blow who brokered the deal in which Gucci purchased McQueen's label.
Other pressures included money problems (Blow was disinherited by her father in 1994) and infertility. In an effort to have a child, Blow and her husband had unsuccessfully tried in vitro fertilization eight times. She later stated, "We were like a pair of exotic fruits that could not breed when placed together."
In 2004, Isabella and Detmar Blow separated. Detmar Blow went on to have an affair with Stephanie Theobald, the society editor of British Harper's Bazaar, while his estranged wife entered into a liaison with a gondolier she met in Venice. During the couple's separation, Blow was diagnosed with a bipolar disorder and began undergoing electroshock therapy. For a time, the treatments appeared to be helpful. After an eighteen month separation, Isabella and Detmar Blow were reconciled. Soon after, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
Depressed over her waning celebrity status and her cancer diagnosis, Blow began telling friends that she was suicidal. In 2006, Blow attempted suicide with an overdose of sleeping pills. Later that year, Blow again attempted suicide by jumping from the Hammersmith Flyover, which resulted in her breaking both ankles.
In 2007, Blow made several more suicide attempts by driving her car into the rear of a truck, attempting to obtain horse tranquilizers, trying to drown herself in a lake and by overdosing while on a beach in India.
Read more about this topic: Isabella Blow
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