In just less than a week, the world was shocked to learn about the suicides of two famous people — fashion icon Kate Spade and celebrity chef and CNN host Anthony Bourdain. Unlike Kate, however, Bourdain was not known to be the victim of depression for years.
Apparently, what urged the famous chef to take his own life was his too demanding workflow. An insider shared that he would often see Bourdain looking exhausted from his work.
According to the source, the 61-year-old chef would keep an overbearing schedule and devote more of his time to the projects in comparison to what most producers do.
Meanwhile, Bourdain never showed any sign of being depressed, nor he acted rudely or impolitely when he was not filming — to the people surrounding him, he just looked exhausted.
His friend, Eric Ripert, discovered the body of Bourdain in the hotel room the chef was staying at the time. Instead of a rope, Bourdain used parts of his bathrobe to commit his final act.
It was not unusual for the TV expert and travel expert to spend the bigger part of the year on the road. His food show Parts Unknown made it necessary for him to travel regularly to different locations for each episode, where the host would taste new cuisines and dishes.
Besides traveling for work events, Bourdain’s routine would often require of him to be present in New York so he could spend time with his daughter from his ex-wife, 11-year-old Ariana.
People who knew him well said he had been in a dark mood in the days leading to the unthinkable tragedy.
However, his 83-year-old mother, Gladys Bourdain, insists that the famous chef was the last person she would imagine to do something like this.
She stated, “He was an incredible guy. I really can’t talk about him . . . He was brilliant and sharp and funny.”
Bourdain’s estranged wife, Ottavia Busia Bourdain, is the one handling the funeral plans.
