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Anthony Bourdain has committed suicide at 61 - take a look back at his incredible career from dishwasher to celebrity chef
Anthony Bourdain has committed suicide at 61 - take a look back at his incredible career from dishwasher to celebrity chef
Rachel PremackJun 8, 2018, 21:30 IST
Rich Fury/Invision/AP
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Anthony Bourdain, award-winning television host, chef, and author, was found dead in his hotel room in France on Friday. His employer CNN confirmed that the cause of death was suicide.
He was 61. He leaves behind his 11-year-old daughter Ariane and longtime girlfriend Asia Argento.
In his lifetime, he authored more than a dozen books, hosted several award-winning television shows, and was executive chef at the now-closed Brasserie Les Halles.
Anthony Bourdain has died at age 61. His employer CNN confirmed that the cause of death was suicide by hanging.
Bourdain was a celebrity chef, author, the host of CNN's travel show "Parts Unknown," and the winner of four Emmys and a Peabody award. He often spoke about his struggles with drug use earlier in life, and his rocky path to stardom.
Below, take a look back at Bourdain's life and career.
Anthony Michael Bourdain was born in 1956 in New York City. His father was a classical music executive with Columbia Records and his mother was a New York Times copy editor.
His first restaurant job came in his teens — as a dishwasher. "Dishes had to go in the washer and come out taintless and doing this swiftly and competently meant I was acknowledged as a human being by colleagues I wanted to be like," he told The Guardian. "The day they promoted me to dunking fries I was overjoyed."
However, he kept his college job in Provincetown, Massachusetts. His early 20s in Provincetown is where he first encountered heroin; he struggled with drug addiction throughout his young adulthood.
"I was a complete asshole," Bourdain wrote about himself in his 20s during a Reddit AMA. "Selfish, larcenous, druggy, loud, stupid, insensitive and someone you would not want to have known. I would have robbed your medicine cabinet had I been invited to your house."
Bourdain took a chef job after graduation from the CIA, which he said later was a mistake. "Taking a low-level position at a great restaurant and putting my nose to the grindstone" would have been smarter, he told Newsweek in 2011.
At age 44, he became a star in 2000 after his book "Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly" became a bestseller. The nonfiction was an outgrowth of an immensely popular article he wrote for the New Yorker in 1999.
"At age 44, I had never had health insurance," Bourdain said in 2011 of his younger self. "I hadn't paid my rent on time. I was 10 years behind on my taxes. I owed AmEx for 10 years. I was still living like a college kid — worse even. I essentially partied my way out of a big-league career."
His television stardom continued to expand. His series include the Travel Channel's "No Reservations" (2005-2012) and "The Layover" (2011-2013), as well as "Parts Unknown" (2013-2018).
"It's such an understatement to say that having a kid changes your life," Bourdain told Business Insider's Rich Feloni in 2016. "You're just no longer the first person you think about or care about. You're not the most important person in the room. It's not your film. The music doesn't play for you — it's all about the girl. And that changes everything."
"I work really hard to not ever think about my place in the world," Bourdain told Business Insider in a 2016 interview. "I'm aware of my good fortune. I'm very aware of it, and I'm very aware that, because of it, people offer me things. Opportunities to do extraordinary things."
"I’m still here — on my third life, or maybe fourth," Bourdain said about his rapid ascent to celebrity. "Who knows? I should've died in my 20s. I became successful in my 40s. I became a dad in my 50s. I feel like I've stolen a car — a really nice car — and I keep looking in the rearview mirror for flashing lights. But there's been nothing yet."
