Tom Ford has revealed the heartbreaking moment he discovered his husband Richard Buckley had died at their Los Angeles home while they were watching television.
The fashion designer, 64, who was in a relationship with Richard for 35 years – and married for nine – has opened up about the heartbreaking moment for the first time.
Richard, an American fashion editor and writer who worked for publications including Vogue and Vanity Fair, had been struggling with his health before his death at the age of 73 in 2021.
Revealing the memory of that night still haunts him to this day, Tom said: ‘It’s burned so clearly in my head. He died very suddenly and unexpectedly.
‘We were watching television, he walked out of the room, he went upstairs, he collapsed, and I walked into the bathroom.’
Tom continued to the This Life of Mine with James Corden podcast: ‘He had fainted quite a lot at this time because he had been ill for so long.
Tom Ford has revealed the heartbreaking moment he discovered his husband Richard Buckley had died at their Los Angeles home while they were watching television (pictured in 2017)
The fashion designer, 64, who was in a relationship with Richard for 35 years – and married for nine – until his death in 2021, has opened up about the heartbreaking moment for the first time
‘And I heard the crash, and I thought, oh God, he’s fainted again. What are we going to have to do? I went up, and his eyes were open, and there was an expression on his face, absolutely frozen.
‘At first I thought, OK, this is some sort of different fainting. Has he had a stroke…? And then I immediately realised he was dead. I tried to revive him, and I don’t want to get too graphic, but that was not successful.’
The fashion legend, who found global fame transforming Gucci in the 1990s before building his multimillion-pound eponymous empire, said the image of that night has never left him.
‘There is not a day that goes by that I do not see his face at that particular moment in time, so clearly,’ he emotionally said.
‘I see it more when I’m in Los Angeles, living in the same house where it happened, walking through the same bathroom where it happened. Seeing where he lay next to the bed, where it happened, which is one reason I’ve left Los Angeles and moved.’
When Richard died, a statement said he had passed away ‘peacefully at home from natural causes after a prolonged illness, with Tom and their son Jack by his side’.
Until now, Tom has not spoken publicly about what actually happened on the night of his death.
The designer added: ‘It is the most potent and pungent memory that maybe will fade a bit, but it was the most startling thing I’ve ever experienced in my life.’
Richard, a fashion editor and writer who worked for publications including Vogue and Vanity Fair, had been struggling with his health before his death at the age of 73 (pictured in 2014)
The power couple met in 1986 at a fashion show in New York. They struck up a romance soon after and eventually married in 2014.
They had a son, Jack, 13, who was born via surrogate.
Following Richard’s death, Tom says their son gives him a reason to keep going.
He admitted: ‘If I didn’t have Jack, I don’t really know what I would be living for right now.
‘If I left now, I’ve had a great run. I’ve done so many things, I’ve had a terrific life, I’ve been incredibly lucky, I’ve been healthy, I’ve been in love with someone, I’ve had people in my life I loved. I’ve been able to be creative.
‘So if I didn’t have Jack, I don’t know that I would even feel the need to live. Because it’s not going to get any better. I could only hope that things might stay at the level that they already had been. But I’ve had enough. It was wonderful. But because I have Jack, I have something new, something to live for. I have something to look forward to.
‘Someone to impart, hopefully, a lot of the knowledge and things that I have learned over my life and so I live for Jack. And I think most parents feel that way, hopefully, about their kids.
‘He brings me so much joy and I’m sure he will continue to bring me joy – and frustration – as it’s an adventure, and so Jack is definitely the most important person in my life.’
The power couple met in 1986 at a fashion show in New York. They struck up a romance soon after and eventually married in 2014 (pictured in 1997)
In 2023, Tom sold his eponymous brand – a deal reportedly worth $2.8 billion – and stepped back from fashion to focus on filmmaking and raising Jack.
‘I felt I’d said everything I had to say in fashion,’ Tom reflected. ‘I thought, well, why not let that change in the brand happen now while I’m alive and have enough money to do whatever I want to do, which is make films.
‘Clock is ticking… I’ve got 20 more years of hopefully being together mentally, maybe more, maybe less. And I want to do something new and something that I feel excited about creatively. So I detached myself from that.
‘When we die, we let go of everything. We let go of our houses, we let go of our friends, we let go of our children, we let go of all of it. We leave everything. So once you realise that, you realise also the important thing is to enjoy your time on the planet, and if those things are things you no longer enjoy, then let go of them.
‘Let go of them now while you’re alive and enjoy the rest of the time that you have.’
