A new unauthorised biography of Anthony Bourdain sheds light on the late chef's last days and hours as he struggled with his relationships and what his life had become.
Excerpts from the book Down and Out in Paradise: The Life of Anthony Bourdain, by journalist Charles Leerhsen were published in the New York Times on Tuesday, drawing criticism from some members of Bourdain’s inner circle, including his family and former co-workers.
The book draws on some 80 interviews with people who knew the chef well, and those who worked with him, including his ex-wife Ottavia Busia-Bourdain. The book paints a bleak picture of a man who felt increasingly isolated, and who struggled with the relationships in his life, suffering from what would seem a hatred of fame and the pressures of public life.
“I hate my fans, too. I hate being famous. I hate my job,” Bourdain, who killed himself aged 61, wrote in his last texts to Busia-Bourdain. “I am lonely and living in constant uncertainty.”
The book covers in detail aspects of Bourdain’s early life, as well as his journey to becoming a freewheeling New York chef, a writer and later a gifted television personality and documentary maker.
The biography also details the tumultuous relationship with Italian actress Asia Argento. “I find myself being hopelessly in love with this woman,” he wrote to Busia-Bourdain. His last days and hours were, according to the book, dedicated to back and forth communications with Argento in the aftermath of the publication of images of the actress dancing with French reporter Hugo Clément in the lobby of the Hotel de Russie in Rome, where she and Bourdain had stayed together.
