Death of Anthony Bourdain

[innocent75]

I have always admired Bourdain. Always said he was my favorite “celebrity” chef. I liked his rough edge and the fact that publishers and tv stations gave him a chance to share his adventures with us.

From what I understand he had some tough times and some good times in life like many of us. What always stuns me is he had persevered through many ups and downs and now ends his life. Some culinary folks had mentioned he had seemed very happy with how life was going.

I wish he would have talked to someone. Not just him but anyone who feels the need to end their lives.

My prayers are with him and all of those he had touched through his food, meetings, and stories.

[Mdinterman]

Sorry to hear about this for anyone. Please keep in mind that 22 of our veterans take their life every day. That is truly tragic.

[Otterhound]

We all make choices each and every day .
Some cultures attach great reverence to suicide .
" Death is the greatest thrill in life . Maybe that's why they save it for last . " or something close to that . Carlos Castaneda

[Nyghthawk]

Godspeed Tony. Sorry it had to end like this. Suicide is usually a permanent solution to a temporary problem. I will miss your self-depreciating and often sardonic wit.

[Chicago Sandy]

Originally Posted by Nyghthawk

Godspeed Tony. Sorry it had to end like this. Suicide is usually a permanent solution to a temporary problem. I will miss your self-depreciating and often sardonic wit.

Just what I was about to say, Nyghthawk!

But, having had two close family members attempt suicide (seemingly with no provocation) and having battled post-partum depression (and on maintenance therapy) myself, I can state that there is no "why." Seeking good psychiatric help isn't always preventive, either--it's a mysterious and very biochemical disease. Often, substance abuse is a form of self-medication--and addiction recovery doesn't cure the depression (not even decades after getting into recovery), just removes one mechanism for following through. So many people don't understand that, never having gone through it themselves (or whose loved ones who committed suicide had never let on about their depression). When that comes up in conversation, there's no convincing those who call suicide "selfish" or ascribe some moral failing or weakness of character.

I've been binge-watching "No Reservations," "The Layover," and past episodes of "Parts Unknown" (which latter series I've followed since its inception). I'm struck now by verbal and even visual cues those of us never picked up on before. In so many photos--especially in the "bumpers" beginning and ending each segment--in which he originally appeared to be blase "Joe Cool," I now see melancholy & resignation. In the last couple of years, I've seen the light leave his eyes, and an increasingly blanker "resting face" during interviews. In 2014 & earlier, there was a delightedness to so much of his sardonic humor. His smile, even laughter, was spontaneous & natural. Even when he was frustrated and angry (e.g., the Sicily episode where a restaurateur took him "fishing" for what was quite obviously frozen & thawed seafood thrown overboard), he played it as comic relief.

The musicians & bands he featured in the later episodes grew ever harder-edged, dissonant & nihilistic. (I had previously chalked it up to his musical taste--he adored the Ramones and was known to fire sous chefs discovered listening to Billy Joel--but now I realize his darkening moods may have motivated it). Even the themes of his scripts got darker and darker afterwards--the Berlin episode last week was strikingly so. I won't speculate on political factors that may have made his depression bubble up--that would violate AGF rules.

But a few personal events may have set it off--the first was the gov't-backed murders of some of his dissident friends abroad, including not just an Iranian couple he interviewed but especially (and notoriously) Boris Nemtsov, who was gunned down in front of the Kremlin. The other was closer to home: before 2016, in episodes featuring & mentioning his daughter and Sardinian-born martial-arts expert wife he was upbeat. But they divorced that year. When the facts emerged about the sexually-abusive behavior of his friend Mario Batali, Bourdain (a vocal critic of the sexism in the restaurant industry) had to have felt betrayed. And there was a cryptic Tweet from his new girlfriend, with a white-on-black sketch of him.

There had to have been other frustrations: though his recovery made him into a teetotaler off-camera (he didn't even keep alcohol in his home), having to imbibe at nearly every meal on-camera must have pulled him six ways from Sunday. He was responsible for nearly everything in his shows: choice of subject nation, places to visit, issues to discuss, people to interview, scripts to write, having to be followed by his camera crew everywhere, and then editing it all together had to have been utterly exhausting...and might have started feeling as if he were on a hamster wheel with the only change of pace being to where that wheel was constantly being relocated.

How else to explain why his depression flared and he took his life during the few days an episode was being filmed in Alsace (a place he'd previously never featured and hardly a hotbed of unrest or bleakness)? A factor must have doubtless been yet another obligatory recitation of a region's unpleasant history (most recently Armenia, W.Va, Sri Lanka), etc. Alsace, while bucolic and pleasant since WWII, had an exhausting "Pushmi-Pullyu" past of being claimed by both (its original & current) France and Germany. He may well have been thinking "oh, no, here we go again--can't we just eat & talk?"

I used to envy his TV life--getting paid to travel, eat, drink & converse, and comped everywhere to boot. But not now.

[Denny B]

I've watched Anthony Bourdain since his "Cook's Tour" on the Food Network, thru "No Reservations", "The Layover" and now "Parts Unknown"...

Along the way, I found him to be one of those rare "celebrities" who I thought I'd actually like to hang out with and get to know...my wife and I have always said that when we watched one of his shows we had to allot extra time, because we had to keep pausing the broadcast to talk about what he was showing us...he made you want to dig deep, think and discuss...

His family and closest friends can't fathom why he ended his life, so I don't believe any of us have any enlightened insights or explanations, just personal opinions...

Mine is simply that he lived his life on his terms, and he went out on his terms...

I don't question or judge his decision, but can say that I'll truly miss sharing his adventures on his treks around the world...

[frankmcr]

Just in case anybody missed this in the General discussion area, a nice clip to remember him by:


https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=513919

[Denny B]

Originally Posted by frankmcr

Just in case anybody missed this in the General discussion area, a nice clip to remember him by:


https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=513919

I hadn't seen that clip before, and enjoyed it immensely... I've also found some other episodes of that series to watch later...

[Don Lampson]

Originally Posted by Mdinterman

Sorry to hear about this for anyone. Please keep in mind that 22 of our veterans take their life every day. That is truly tragic.

I can't help but wonder how many of those veterans were Korean, or Vietnam Era vets, faced with failing health, and a highly diminished, and / or, painful quality of living? For someone in that position suicide seems to me like a perfectly understandable, and reasonable option. I believe that's the course of action I'll pursue if I'm able if faced with a bleak future? I think a legal, gore free, assisted suicide should be available under those conditions...

Neither my 39 year old sister, nor Mr. Bourdain, were in those kind of circumstances.....

Don

[patrickgm60]

Originally Posted by Mdinterman

Sorry to hear about this for anyone. Please keep in mind that 22 of our veterans take their life every day. That is truly tragic.

I just fact checked that; hoping you were mistaken. Alas!

[aknow]

Originally Posted by Chicago Sandy

Just what I was about to say, Nyghthawk!

But, having had two close family members attempt suicide (seemingly with no provocation) and having battled post-partum depression (and on maintenance therapy) myself, I can state that there is no "why." Seeking good psychiatric help isn't always preventive, either--it's a mysterious and very biochemical disease. Often, substance abuse is a form of self-medication--and addiction recovery doesn't cure the depression (not even decades after getting into recovery), just removes one mechanism for following through. So many people don't understand that, never having gone through it themselves (or whose loved ones who committed suicide had never let on about their depression). When that comes up in conversation, there's no convincing those who call suicide "selfish" or ascribe some moral failing or weakness of character.

I've been binge-watching "No Reservations," "The Layover," and past episodes of "Parts Unknown" (which latter series I've followed since its inception). I'm struck now by verbal and even visual cues those of us never picked up on before. In so many photos--especially in the "bumpers" beginning and ending each segment--in which he originally appeared to be blase "Joe Cool," I now see melancholy & resignation. In the last couple of years, I've seen the light leave his eyes, and an increasingly blanker "resting face" during interviews. In 2014 & earlier, there was a delightedness to so much of his sardonic humor. His smile, even laughter, was spontaneous & natural. Even when he was frustrated and angry (e.g., the Sicily episode where a restaurateur took him "fishing" for what was quite obviously frozen & thawed seafood thrown overboard), he played it as comic relief.

The musicians & bands he featured in the later episodes grew ever harder-edged, dissonant & nihilistic. (I had previously chalked it up to his musical taste--he adored the Ramones and was known to fire sous chefs discovered listening to Billy Joel--but now I realize his darkening moods may have motivated it). Even the themes of his scripts got darker and darker afterwards--the Berlin episode last week was strikingly so. I won't speculate on political factors that may have made his depression bubble up--that would violate AGF rules.

But a few personal events may have set it off--the first was the gov't-backed murders of some of his dissident friends abroad, including not just an Iranian couple he interviewed but especially (and notoriously) Boris Nemtsov, who was gunned down in front of the Kremlin. The other was closer to home: before 2016, in episodes featuring & mentioning his daughter and Sardinian-born martial-arts expert wife he was upbeat. But they divorced that year. When the facts emerged about the sexually-abusive behavior of his friend Mario Batali, Bourdain (a vocal critic of the sexism in the restaurant industry) had to have felt betrayed. And there was a cryptic Tweet from his new girlfriend, with a white-on-black sketch of him.

There had to have been other frustrations: though his recovery made him into a teetotaler off-camera (he didn't even keep alcohol in his home), having to imbibe at nearly every meal on-camera must have pulled him six ways from Sunday. He was responsible for nearly everything in his shows: choice of subject nation, places to visit, issues to discuss, people to interview, scripts to write, having to be followed by his camera crew everywhere, and then editing it all together had to have been utterly exhausting...and might have started feeling as if he were on a hamster wheel with the only change of pace being to where that wheel was constantly being relocated.

How else to explain why his depression flared and he took his life during the few days an episode was being filmed in Alsace (a place he'd previously never featured and hardly a hotbed of unrest or bleakness)? A factor must have doubtless been yet another obligatory recitation of a region's unpleasant history (most recently Armenia, W.Va, Sri Lanka), etc. Alsace, while bucolic and pleasant since WWII, had an exhausting "Pushmi-Pullyu" past of being claimed by both (its original & current) France and Germany. He may well have been thinking "oh, no, here we go again--can't we just eat & talk?"

I used to envy his TV life--getting paid to travel, eat, drink & converse, and comped everywhere to boot. But not now.

Chantix........another unnecessary death due to Pharma.......

[Denny B]

Originally Posted by aknow

Chantix........another unnecessary death due to Pharma.......

I haven't read anywhere that Anthony Bourdain's demise was a direct result of Chantix...

I'm interested in fact links to your information/claim related specifically to Bourdain's case...