André Leon Talley's Nemesis, Anna Wintour, Shares Statement Following His Death

The fashion world continues to mourn the death of André Leon Talley.

Many celebrities have expressed their sadness and fond memories of the former Vogue editor on social media.

Kris Jenner, Gigi Hadid, Bella Hadid, Marc Jacobs, Diane von Furstenberg and many more have shared their condolences of Talley.

Surprisingly, Talley’s former boss and nemesis, Anna Wintour, issued a statement.

Wintour took to Vogue’s website to share her sentiments.

“The loss of André is felt by so many of us today: the designers he enthusiastically cheered on every season, and who loved him for it; the generations he inspired to work in the industry, seeing a figure who broke boundaries while never forgetting where he started from; those who knew fashion, and Vogue, simply because of him,” the editor-in-chief wrote Wednesday. “And, not forgetting, the colleagues over the years who were consistently buoyed along by every new discovery of André’s, which he would discuss loudly, and volubly.”

Talley passed away at the age of 73 on Tuesday, January 18. The cause of his death is still unknown.

The former editor-at-large and Wintour once had a tight bond, but Talley revealed their relationship soured in his memoir, “The Chiffon Trenches.”

Wintour made sure to note in her dedication to Talley that their relationship did have some “complicated moments.”

She concluded her statement, “All I want to remember today, all I care about, is the brilliant and compassionate man who was a generous and loving friend to me and to my family for many, many years, and who we will all miss so much.”

The Blast reported on their rift which was detailed from Talley’s POV in his memoir.

In the book, Talley says he has “huge emotional and psychological scars” after working with the Vogue editor for decades. He writes, Anna is “not capable of simple human kindness” and “she is immune to anyone other than the powerful and famous people who populate the pages of Vogue.” Talley is a fashion icon in his own right and started working for Vogue in 1983.

He explains when his relationship with Anna started to go south. In 2016, he started hosting a Vogue podcast that featured celebrity guests. The show was a success, but he took issue with only being paid $500 per episode. The podcast was suddenly canned without explanation.

In early 2018, he was ready to start preparing for his regular Met Gala red carpet interviews. He says nobody reached out to him about the gig. He called the office and was told the job was “beneath” him even though he had done it for years. He realized it was a sign that he was being pushed out.

He writes, “This was clearly a stone-cold business decision. I had suddenly become too old, too overweight, too uncool, I imagined, for Anna Wintour. After decades of loyalty and friendships…Anna should have had the decency and kindness to call me or send me an email saying: ‘Andre, I think we have had a wonderful run with your interviews but we are going to try something new.”

“She has mercilessly made her best friends people who are the highest in their chosen fields. Serena Williams, Roger Federer, Mr. and Mrs. George Clooney are, to her, friends. I am no longer of value to her,” he noted in his memoir.