Anthony Bourdain, “laughing, smiling” just days before death
French authorities have ruled out any foul play or violence in the death of TV celebrity chef.
- Published by David Knox
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Anthony Bourdain was laughing, smiling and full of personality just days before his death from a reported suicide.
Bourdain and his crew were shooting at Wistub La Petite Venise on Tuesday in Colmar, France. Sources at the restaurant tell us Bourdain was extremely friendly with the staff, and seemingly in great spirits even when cameras weren’t rolling.
But depression is not always evident in suicide victims.
Authorities have ruled out any foul play or violence in his death.
“There is no element that makes us suspect that someone came into the room at any moment,” French prosecutor Christian de Rocquigny said, adding that a medical expert had concluded that there were no signs of violence on Bourdain’s body.
Rocquigny said toxicology tests were being carried on Bourdain’s body, including urine tests, to see if the 61-year-old American took any medications or other drugs.
In an interview with AOL’s Build Series which filmed just seven months ago, he talked about the “mistakes” he has made throughout his career and his “dark days”.
“I have happy days and then dark days, you know, I think my work expresses that.”
The chef turned TV host has battled with drugs and addiction in the past and had been open about his struggle to get clean nearly three decades ago.
“All I can tell you is this: I got off of heroin in the 1980s. Friends of mine from the ’70s and ’80s, they just got off five, six, maybe 10 years ago. And we’re the lucky ones. We made it out alive,” he told Biography.com. There are a lot of guys that didn’t get that far. But you know, I also don’t have that many regrets either.”
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3 Responses
Very sad news. When he wrote Kitchen Confidential years ago I went to a talk he did in Sydney and he was a very interesting vibrant man – just like he was on his TV shows. He really did pave the way for the on-the-road cooking/travel shows that are so popular and common now.
Thats the insidious thing about depression, it can rear its ugly head so quickly. And in cases of suicide, some people who have thought about it for some time beforehand or even planned it are reported as happy in the days leading up to it because they have come to the horrible conclusion death is the only way they will be happy, or freed from their demons.
I guess in time it wil become clearer if this was the case with Bourdain, but i suspect it more to do with that people who battle addictions are often prone to sudden mood swings because of the affect the substances have had on their brain chemistry. Robin Williams was such an example, though with him its hard to say if the drugs caused his mental illness or a pre existing illness caused him to self medicate.
Yes. The whole ‘they were happy / there were no signs’ myth is one of many that need to end, because it’s rarely the case.
I think a lot of the time people want to find a proximate cause so they can either understand it for themselves, or deal with their own guilt/fear. And when they don’t find one, they fall back on ‘there were no signs’ to explain why there was no reason apparent to them, or absolve themselves of any possible guilt.
(Which is not to say there’s always anything to understand, or that anyone is necessarily guilty – but people _do_ feel that regardless…)