World-traveling chef, storyteller and TV host
Anthony Bourdain, a celebrity chef, author and TV host who traveled the world to explore the nexus of food and culture, died Friday in an apparent suicide, according to CNN. He was 61.
“It is with extraordinary sadness we can confirm the death of our friend and colleague, Anthony Bourdain,” CNN said in a statement. “His love of great adventure, new friends, fine food and drink and the remarkable stories of the world made him a unique storyteller.”
Bourdain transformed his popularity as a bestselling author and celebrity chef into TV stardom through his programs on the Travel Channel and then on CNN, where his travel series “Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown” has been one of the network’s most popular programs since it was launched in 2013.
CNN said Bourdain was found dead in his hotel room in France, where he was working on an episode of “Parts Unknown.” The network said he apparently hanged himself.
French chef Eric Ripert, a longtime friend and collaborator, found Bourdain unresponsive in his hotel room, according to CNN.
Bourdain’s first book, “Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly,” was a major sensation in 2000 for revealing the secrets of the restaurant business and his own personal struggles as he made his way to the top of the culinary industry.
Bourdain’s CNN series, where he presented his take on food, culture and social issues in far-flung locations, earned four Emmy Awards during its run and a Peabody Award in 2013.
CNN President Jeff Zucker said in an email to employees: “Tony was an exceptional talent. A gifted writer. A world traveler. An adventurer. He brought something to CNN that no one else had ever brought before. Tony will be greatly missed not only for his work but also for the passion with which he did it.”
President Donald Trump paid tribute to Bourdain during his impromptu news conference Friday on the White House lawn before leaving for the G-7 summit in Canada.
“I enjoyed his show,” Trump said. “He was quite a character.”
The toll-free number for the Suicide Prevention Lifeline was kept onscreen throughout CNN’s coverage of Bourdain’s death Friday.
Bourdain was born in New York City on June 25, 1956, and grew up in Leonia, N.J. His father was a recording industry executive and his mother a staff editor for the New York Times.
Bourdain said his love affair with food began on a summer vacation in France when he ate an oyster straight from the ocean. After dropping out of Vassar College, he enrolled at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y.
After graduation, Bourdain worked at the Rainbow Room in Rockefeller Center and as a chef in a number of other Manhattan restaurants throughout the 1980s. He made his name as executive chef at the brasserie Les Halles. During his time there, he wrote the tell-all “Kitchen Confidential,” which gave diners insights on the workings of the culinary business and the lives of the people in the profession — including his own.
Bourdain described himself in the book as “the poster boy for bad behavior in the kitchen.” He went into rehab for heroin addiction during the 1980s.
Bourdain’s candid and vividly told tales made his memoir a best-seller and turned him into a media sensation when he was in his 40s.
Bourdain was divorced from his second wife, Ottavia Busia; they have an 11-year-old daughter, Ariane. At the time of his death, he was dating actress Asia Argento.
Argento mourned Bourdain’s death in a tweet Friday, writing that he “gave all of himself in everything that he did.”