Anthony Bourdain, a gifted storyteller and writer who took CNN viewers around the world, has died, in a shocking death that has stunned the food world.
Bourdain hanged himself in his hotel room, while visiting Strasbourg, France to film an upcoming episode of his CNN show Parts Unknown.
He was 61.
CNN confirmed Bourdain’s death on Friday and said the cause of death was suicide.
“It is with extraordinary sadness we can confirm the death of our friend and colleague, Anthony Bourdain,” the network said in a statement Friday morning. “His love of great adventure, new friends, fine food and drink and the remarkable stories of the world made him a unique storyteller.
His talents never ceased to amaze us and we will miss him very much.
Our thoughts and prayers are with his daughter and family at this incredibly difficult time.”
Bourdain’s death happened after fashion designer Kate Spade hanged herself in an apparent suicide at her Manhattan apartment on Tuesday.
Suicide is a growing problem in the United States. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a survey Thursday showing suicide rates increased by 25% across the United States over nearly two decades ending in 2016. Twenty-five states experienced a rise in suicides by more than 30%, the government report finds.
Bourdain was married twice, first to high school sweetheart Nancy Putkowski, and then to MMA fighter Ottavia Busia, who he has an 11-year-old daughter with named Ariane.
‘I was 50 when I became a father of a little girl. I was finally old enough to be qualified for the job. Ariane has me wrapped around her finger,’ Bourdain told The Guardian in 2013. ‘All I can realistically hope for is that she feels loved. That she has high self-esteem. And good martial-arts skills.’
Bourdain and Busia broke up in 2016, and not long after Bourdain began dating Asia Argento, an actress he met while filming an episode of Parts Unknown in December of that year.
Argento was one of Harvey Weinstein’s accusers, and when she told her story to the New Yorker in October 2016, he supported her with a kind message on Twitter.
‘I am proud and honored to know you. You just did the hardest thing in the world,’ Bourdain wrote.
