Their partnership lasted nearly a decade until tragedy struck: in 1984, Galeotti was diagnosed with AIDS. When he passed away a year later, at just 40, his death was reported as a heart attack, amid the intense stigma surrounding the disease.

For Giorgio Armani, the loss was devastating. During Galeotti’s illness, Armani relied on antidepressants to cope, struggling to hear Sergio’s frail voice and watch his life partner slowly fade away.

He later called it the “worst year” of his life, admitting that losing Galeotti felt like losing “a part” of himself.

Sergio Galeotti’s last years

In Galeotti’s final years, the two were more best friends than lovers, with Armani acknowledging that “passion doesn’t last.”

But the heartbreak still hit Armani hard, and he never fully recovered.

Eleven years after Galeotti’s death, Armani told New York Magazine that he still wore his late partner’s ring every day. “He never saw me cry. He himself never said anything. In a whole year, he said once, ‘Giorgio, look how thin I have become’—that’s all,” Armani recalled.

Just last year, he reflected again on the loss: “When Sergio died, a part of me died. I have to say I congratulate myself a little, because I withstood such intense pain.”