Anthony Bourdain’s Girlfriend ‘Never Knew’ About Suicide Obsession

Everyone is still reeling from the sudden suicide of Anthony Bourdain. The iconic chef died a little over a month ago on June 8, but was his death really that out of nowhere? According to People, an article was released detailing his lengthy obsession with suicide. His girlfriend, Asia Argento, tweeted the article saying, “I never knew about this obsession of his. He never told me.”

The article written by Dr. John E. Richters highlights a specific episode of Parts Unknown which was filmed in Buenos Aires in 2016. In the episode, Bourdain speaks to a psychotherapist about his ongoing depression and how he blames it on his narcissistic personality disorder.

The article goes on to recount several times in interviews, books, and episodes of his shows where Bourdain discusses how depressed he is. One quote is from his 2010 memoir Medium Raw. He discusses how he felt after his divorce in 2005 and how his suicidal thoughts escalated into almost actions.

“I was aimless and regularly suicidal… foot on the gas, the cliff edge coming up at me fast… (and) at the last second, turned away from empty air, laughing and crying at the wonderfulness and absurdity of it all, diverted from what I very much felt to be my just desserts,” Bourdain writes.

The article continues documenting his suicidal obsession by listing 19 separate occasions where Bourdain refers to suicide by hanging, which he ended up doing to himself. According to the article, “the vast majority of these occasions he refers explicitly to hanging himself in the shower, on 1 occasion more specifically to hanging himself in the shower of his hotel room, and on 1 occasion even more specifically to hanging himself in the shower stall of his lonely hotel room.” The occasions are all on camera, in interviews, and in writing. The earliest mention of suicide was in 2000 in his Kitchen Confidential show and the latest was October 2017, in a post-credit trailer of a film called Wasted! The Story of Food Waste.

Argento, 42, is an Italian actress, director, and activist. Argento and Bourdain met on the set of Parts Unknown in 2016 and began dating a year later. Argento recently directed an episode of Parts Unknown set in Hong Kong and collaborated with Bourdain with the show.

Lately, Argento has been cyberbullied by internet trolls blaming her for the death of Bourdain, but fortunately, she has support. According to another article from People, 45 members of the Me Too movement, which Argento is very active in, have signed a letter supporting Argento and telling the trolls to stop bullying her. Some of the people that have signed the letter include Rose McGowan, Terry Crews, Anthony Rapp, and Olivia Munn.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741. For readers outside the U.S., visit Suicide.org or Befrienders Worldwide for international resources you can use to find help.