Who - 25.06.2018

(Rick Simeone) #1
THE
WANDERER
From presidents to refugees,
Bourdain ate with everyone.
“If I’m an advocate for anything,
it’s to move,” he said on Parts
Unknown. “The extent to which
you can walk in someone
else’s shoes or at least eat
their food, it’s a plus
for everybody.”

A police car parked in front
of Le Chambard hotel in
Kayserberg, France,
where Bourdain’s body was
found on June 8.

Ariane, 11,
Bourdain’s
daughter with
ex-wife Ottavia
Busia (right),
performed a
song in tribute
to her dad on
June 11.

Fans left flowers,
notes and packs
of cigarettes
outside the now-
closed Les Halles
in New York.

Photographed
on May 26 in
Florence with
his girlfriend,
Asia Argento,
Bourdain would
often fly to Italy
to be with her
between Parts
Unknown
shoots.

with his family, friends and loved ones.”
Bourdain’s mother Gladys told The New York
Times that she had spoken with Ripert after
hearing of her son’s death and he said, “Tony had
been in a dark mood these past couple of days.” A
source who worked closely with Bourdain in the
past tells WHO, “It never struck me as peculiar,
but it was as if he gave everything to his work and
then had nothing, zero, left for himself afterwards.
He was always very, very tired. He pushed himself
extremely hard.” CNN colleague Anderson
Cooper, who lost his brother to suicide in 1988,
choked up during a tribute, saying he was filled
with “shock, confusion and sadness that a man
who was seemingly having the ride of his life has
now suddenly reached the end of his life.”
Bourdain’s girlfriend, Asia Argento, released a
statement calling him “my love, my rock, my
protector.” Having met him in Rome in 2016, the
actress added, “I am beyond devastated.” His
ex-wife, Ottavia Busia, revealed
that she and their daughter,
Ariane, 11, mourned their loss
through music. On June 11,
Ottavia posted a photo of Ariana
performing with her band. “Our
little girl had her concert today,”
wrote the mixed martial artist.
“She was amazing. So strong and
brave. She wore the boots you bought her.”
Although known for going into war zones
and politically fraught places to film, Bourdain
conceded that fatherhood had curbed some of his
more reckless behaviour. “Since I became a dad,
I do feel some responsibility at least to try to live,”
he told WHO in February. “There have been times
in my life that I figured I’ve had a good run. Why
not just do this stupid thing: jump off a cliff into
water of an indeterminate depth? This is
something I’ve done on the show. In retrospect,
I don’t know that I would do that today now that
I’m a dad or reasonably happy.”

Bourdain’s food journey began in New Jersey,
raised with his brother Christopher by mum
Gladys, a New York Times editor, and his late
father, Pierre, a Columbia Records executive in a
“pretty normal, nuclear” family, he said. “We all
ate together.” After dropping out of university to
attend the Culinary Institute of America, Bourdain
then worked in various New York restaurants in
the 1980s, developing a drug addiction he would
beat through rehab around 1990.
Then, during his time as an executive chef at
Les Halles in 1999, Bourdain wrote
the kitchen tell-all New Yorker essay
Don’t Eat Before Reading This, which
would lead to his memoir and his
first television show at age 44. And
although he would go on to introduce
his audience to food in different parts
of the globe, he endeared himself to all
through his sheer un-snobbiness.
As Bourdain wrote, “My mother-in-law would
always apologise before serving dinner when I
was in attendance, saying, ‘This must seem pretty
ordinary for a chef ...’ She had no idea how
magical, how reassuring, how pleasurable her
simple meatloaf was for me, what a delight even
lumpy mashed potatoes were—being, as they
were, blessedly devoid of truffles or truffle oil.”
■ By Cynthia Wang with bureau reports

If you or someone you know needs help, contact
Lifeline on 13 11 14, or the Suicide Callback Service
on 1300 659 467.

“He was an


exceptional


human being,


so inspiring ”
—chef Eric Ripert

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