Stan Van Gundy’s wife of 35 years passed away on August 16th of last year, and at the time, her cause of death was said to be “unexpected.”
On Friday, months after Kim Van Gundy’s death, the former NBA coach and current TV commentator revealed more details about the circumstances of her death.
Van Gundy said on longtime friend and sports talk host Dan Le Batard’s podcast “South Beach Sessions” that Kim, 61, had committed suicide.
“She took her own life, Dan,” Van Gundy said. “I don’t think I’ll ever get over what happened. … It was really sad.”
Van Gundy spoke at length about the life he’s built with the woman he began dating when he was 24 and their more than 30-year marriage.
“I think about my entire adult life, the changes in my career, the kids, everything I’ve had with her. She was there for me. I never imagined living a day without Kim,” Van Gundy said, adding that his wife had been diagnosed with a mental illness.
“I knew she was going through a difficult time, but I still never imagined something like this would happen. Eight months later, I’m still struggling to accept the fact that I’ll never see her again. I’m trying so hard to stay connected to her. … My house is full of photos of Kim. I have a montage of photos of Kim that my kids made for me above my bed. I try so hard to remember her voice, her smile, all of that. But above all, live her values, because her values were better than mine.”
“My mother taught me so much. I want to live my life following her values and making her proud. And I know that my children, over the last eight months, every once in a while – not often – if I do something for them, they will truly be able to say from their perspective, ‘Your mother would be so proud of you.’ And that really makes me feel better than anything, because my wife was a wonderful person and we miss her so much.”
Kim Van Gundy met her future husband in 1984, shortly after he was hired as the basketball coach at Castleton State University in her hometown of Vermont, where she was a student at the time.
She followed him from one basketball town to another, first in college towns, until he got his first NBA job as an assistant coach with the Miami Heat in 1995. He was promoted to head coach in 2003, a position he held for two-plus seasons before taking on head coaching roles in Orlando, Detroit and New Orleans.
Van Gundy, 64, currently works for TNT and is part of the broadcast team for the Western Conference Finals.
He said on the podcast that he’s undergoing therapy but that life is different without Kim, and that his four children support him, but it’s difficult.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get over it,” Van Gundy said.
If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts or are in a mental health crisis and live in New York City, you can receive free, confidential crisis counseling by calling 1-888-NYC-WELL. If you live outside the five boroughs, you can call the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 988 or Suicide Prevention Lifeline.org.
