Another Hanging Suicide: Publicist Jeanine Pepler

Jeanine Pepler, 50, the publicist who represented novelists Jay McInerney (Bright Lights, Big City, 1984) and Candace Bushnell (Sex and the City, 1996), hanged herself June 17, 2018, Sunday night in her home in Sag Harbor, Long Island, taking her life the same way Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain did earlier this month.

Jeanine Pepler, who was raised and educated in Cape Town, South Africa, arrived in New York in 1996 and worked in public relations with the likes of Tina Brown, Michael Eisner, Julian Schnabel and Julie Taymor. Pepler moved to Sag Harbor a few years ago and was running a new boutique agency, AKA Life. Her bio on the agency’s website states: “Her guilty pleasures include golf, white Burgundy, Betty’s Greek wraps and her daily early morning romp in the dog run with Violet, her French bulldog.” Source.

Pepler's body was discovered by her boyfriend, artist Steve Miller (above left).

Jeanine Pepler created and managed two profitable divisions, Thru-Line & I.D., of bicoastal production company, Chelsea Pictures. Thru-Line represented high profile indie feature directors - Todd Solandz (Welcome to the Dollhouse, 1995; Happiness, 1998), Ben Younger (Boiler Room, 1995), and The Blair Witch Project (1999) filmmakers (Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez). Sánchez went on to direct Exists (2014), a film about Bigfoot.

This is the third high profile suicide by hanging among celebrities, about the same age. 

Kate Spade was born on December 24, 1962, and was 55.

Anthony Bourdain was born on June 25, 1956, and was 61.

Jeanine Pepler was 50.