Anthony Bourdain killed himself after realizing he'd become a bully, bad dad & obsessed with his gir

April 2024 · 6 minute read

ANTHONY Bourdain killed himself after becoming the kind of monster he’d vowed fame would never turn him into, his biographer has told The Sun.

In his final days the beloved celebrity chef realized he was a bully, a neglectful dad and obsessed with his younger girlfriend, writer Charles Leerhsen says.

It led to the 61-year-old’s death during a moment of despair while he stayed in a French hotel, Leerhsen’s new unauthorized biography Down and Out in Paradise - The Life of Anthony Bourdain claims.

Speaking from New York, Leerhsen outlined his views on how the father-of-one’s life unraveled in June 2018 after his Italian film actress lover Asia Argento was pictured in Rome with another man.

Former Sports Illustrated executive editor Leerhsen, 73, said: “When he first became famous, he was 42 years old.

“He was a mature man and he understood what was happening to him more than a younger person if they get swept up in fame in their twenties.

Read more on Anthony Bourdain

“He vowed never to become that sort of monster that fame can turn you into.

'TERRIBLE BULLY'

“I think in his last months, if not his last hours, he came to realize he had in fact become this terrible bully to the people he worked with, he’d become a neglectful father, and everything was all about his obsession with this woman.

“I think he had a moment of enlightenment which was also like a moment of despair because that was the thing he had vowed never to become.”

Parts Unknown presenter Bourdain was on location in France when he decided to end his life.

Most read in The US Sun

He was found by his friend Éric Ripert dead of an apparent suicide from hanging in his room at the Le Chambard hotel in Kayserberg in the northeastern Alsace region.

WEARY TRAVELLER

Leerhsen believes drinking and constant traveling had worn Bourdain down to the point where he could not find a way out.

The writer said: “It seemed that at that point he was too exhausted from travel and from drinking to fix things, to untangle the knot he’d made of his life.

“He was just too exhausted and I think that led him to this brief moment where he decided to do what he did.

“As with a lot of suicides, if he’d somehow got past that moment, he may have never done it.

“He was always a very impulsive person, very full of romantic big ideas and I think it fit into that pattern of his life, that he realized he'd become the person he'd vowed never to be.”

BOOZY LIFESTYLE

In his younger years as a chef, Bourdain had been addicted to heroin, which he openly wrote about in his breakthrough book Kitchen Confidential in 2000.

But Leerhsen says it’s well-documented that his poison of choice for years before he reached the end of the road was booze.

He explained: “The coroner’s report stated that on the last night he had gone for a boozy dinner on his own and he drank quite a lot that night.

“Alcohol was I think a factor in his reaching that state.

“Bourdain talked about the gap between the romance of traveling, which always seems so attractive, and the actual traveling itself which is very wearing.

“It was no different for him just because he was Anthony Bourdain.

“He traveled 250 days a year while ingesting large amounts of a substance that will fatigue you.

“He was exacerbating that problem of fatigue and it left him in a state of total physical and mental exhaustion.

“He didn't ever try to achieve that state of relief from exhaustion where he might then start to repair his life and move on with it.

“He certainly had a lot going in his life to build on.”

It comes after Leerhsen told The US Sun how Bourdain frantically googled Argento 300 times before his death.

Leerhsen has previously written about legendary American figures such as baseball center fielder Ty Cobb and outlaw Butch Cassidy.

Explaining why he chose Bourdain as his new subject, Leerhsen said: “Soon after his death I was walking down the street in Brooklyn, where I live, and I saw a poster on a bus stop.

“It was all about this question of how the guy with the best job in the world and the best life in the world could wind up taking his own life."

Charles Leerhsen, Anthony Bourdain biographer

“I thought ‘Wow, what a cool guy.’ He looked like the coolest guy in the world like he didn’t care but he was pulling it all off.

“But then he’d wound up taking his own life. Now it seems obvious but I thought ‘How did that happen?’

“It was all about this question of how the guy with the best job in the world and the best life in the world could wind up taking his own life.

Read More on The US Sun

Read More on The US Sun

“Not that I was going to solve the mystery of exactly why someone kills themselves, but I might be able to understand better how he got to that point of complete despair.”

Published by Simon & Schuster, Down and Out in Paradise - The Life of Anthony Bourdain is out now.

You're not alone

SUICIDE is the 10th leading cause of death in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Leading Causes of Death Report from 2018.

There were "more than two and half times as many suicides" in the US than there were homicides, according to the report.

For people ages 10 and 34, suicide was the "second leading cause of death" and the fourth for individuals ages 35 to 54.

Suicide is a vital health concern in the U.S. It affects all genders, races and ages.

This is why The-Sun.com launched the You're Not Alone campaign.

The campaign calls on readers to discuss their mental health issues with their family, friends and health professionals. We can all pitch in to help out others who may be suffering and help save lives.

If you are struggling to cope, you are not alone. There are many free and confidential programs in the US aimed to help those who are struggling with their mental health.

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health problems, these organizations are here to provide support:

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEZqqupl6YvK57zZ6urGdmaYBzgY9sZpqmpJ28r8WMm6auqpSWtq95yqKjpZ2UYrWqudKeo59lkqq5rcWMm5idZZSWsW67waycrKuVmXqotdGlnauhlaOxcA%3D%3D