Tom Ford Shares 'Very Hard' Process Of Adjusting To Life After His Husband's Death

For Tom Ford, becoming a widower and a single father in the latter half of 2021 has brought about a deep reevaluation of his personal and professional life.

Ford’s husband, journalist Richard Buckley, died in September at the age of 72. The couple, married since 2014, had been in a relationship for 35 years.

In a new interview with WSJ Magazine, Ford shared how his daily routine has changed in the months since Buckley’s death after a long illness. “It’s been hard after 35 years, very hard,” the designer and filmmaker said. “I keep thinking, oh, God, I have to call Richard, or I need to send him a note about this. And he’s not here.”

As is the case with many single parents, Ford has had to take on new responsibilities as the primary caretaker of the couple’s 9-year-old son, Jack.

“Until recently, I had Richard to help me out in the mornings,” he said. “It’s been a little bit of a struggle the last month because he would normally get [Jack’s] breakfast on school days while I was getting dressed.”

“It’s a challenge to get him up, dressed, get his lunch made, get his lunch packed, get his breakfast done, get all my things done, and then I drive him to school at 7:45,” Ford added. “But it also means I’m at my office by 8:10, so I get a good start to the day.”

In a 2016 appearance on “The Jess Cagle Interview,” Ford explained how he and Buckley met by chance in an elevator in 1986.

“Our eyes locked and within a month we were living together,” he said at the time. “By the time that elevator landed on the ground floor I thought, ‘You’re the one.’ That’s it. Click. Sold. It was literally love at first sight.”

Ford is currently promoting a new book, “Tom Ford 002.” In it, he chronicles the launch of his eponymous fashion brand and recent pivot to Hollywood filmmaking as the director of “A Single Man” and “Nocturnal Animals.”

And speaking of films, Ford recently caught a screening of “House of Gucci” and likened the experience to having “lived through a hurricane” in an essay he published in AirMail last week.

“Was it a farce or a gripping tale of greed? I often laughed out loud,” he wrote, “but was I supposed to?”

However, Ford offered faint praise for Lady Gaga, whose performance has garnered early awards buzz.

“In her often over-the-top portrayal of Patrizia Gucci, her accent migrates occasionally from Milan to Moscow,” he said. “But who cares? Her performance is spot-on.”