Breaking News: Chef And Journalist Anthony Bourdain Found Dead By Suicide
Celebrity chef, writer, journalist and television host Anthony Bourdain was found dead in a French hotel room on Friday morning. He was 61.
According to CNN, Bourdain's friend and fellow chef Eric Ripert found the Kitchen Confidential writer unresponsive in his hotel room. The cause of death was a suicide by hanging.
Bourdain was in France filming a new episode for his Emmy-winning CNN show, "Parts Unknown."
"It is with extraordinary sadness we can confirm the death of our friend and colleague, Anthony Bourdain," CNN 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."
Bourdain is remembered as not just a chef, but a man who worked to explore the unique differences and beauty is global cultures
In a memorable episode of "Parts Unknown," Bourdain sat down for a meal with former president Barack Obama at a noodle shop in Hanoi, Vietnam just months before the end of his second term.
"So I wasn't going to 'interview' the president. And though I may admire him, I wasn't going to be a platform for discussion of a particular foreign policy agenda," Bourdain said about the noodle meeting.
Bourdain was widely respected for traveling to non-white spaces across the globe and understanding different cultures through their foods.
In the past, Bourdain went into great depth about his his mental health struggles and history of heroin use. In his bestselling book, Kitchen Confidential, Bourdain wrote extensively about how substance abuse impacted his life in the kitchen.
"It is one of the central ironies of my career that as soon as I got off heroin, things started getting really bad. High on dope, I was — prior to Gino's — at least, a chef, well paid, much liked by crew and floor and owners alike. Stabilized on methadone, I became nearly unemployable by polite society," Bourdain wrote in Kitchen Confidential.
President Obama tweeted a photo from his time with Bourdain
Bourdain's suicide is serving as a reminder that success does not trump depression, and anyone experiencing suicidal thoughts should seek help
Bourdain is survived by a daughter
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255.
