Anthony Bourdain’s 11-year-old daughter Ariane was seen in a social media post by the late chef’s ex-wife Ottavia Busia performing at a music concert in New York City just days after her father’s tragic death at the age of 61 on June 8 in France. In her first Instagram post since Bourdain’s sudden death, the ex-wife of the Parts Unknown host shared a photo of their only child, Ariane, with a microphone in her hand at DROM, a music venue in New York City.
“Our little girl had her concert today. She was amazing. So strong and brave. She wore the boots you bought her,” Busia said in the photo’s caption, which was posted on June 10. “I hope you are having a good trip, wherever you are.”
Bourdain had his daughter later in life during his second marriage to Busia. The chef was also married to Nancy Putkoski. The couple had no children. “It was quite evident that Tony was a ‘lighter’ human being around his daughter,” said a source close to the chef to People Magazine . “When he spoke about her, his eyes danced. He talked about her constantly.”
According to a story published by The Takeout , Ariane liked to criticize her father’s cooking. “She’s a very harsh critic. You know, I put a tiny, tiny, little bit of nutmeg in my macaroni and cheese, and she did not enjoy that. She called me on it right away,” Bourdain noted.
The late chef revealed in a People Magazine interview that he never shot in two cities back-to-back for his CNN series Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown . He did this so could spend five days a month with Ariane, who lives with Busia in New York.
“I guess my whole life, as much as I might have wanted a child for the reason that everybody wants one, I always recognized that at no point until I was 50 was I old enough or up to the job,” he told Takeout in 2016. “I thought, you know what, I not only really want a child, but at this point finally in my life, I think I’m up to the job, and I’m the type of person who could do the job well, and I’m financially prepared to look after a child.”
The couple remained close despite their split in 2016. They were married for nine years, but Bourdain’s demanding television schedule allegedly contributed to their eventual split. “My wife and I live, have lived, very separate lives for years,” Bourdain stated. “There’s no drama here. We get along really, really well and it’s not a big lifestyle change happening here.”
Bourdain was found unresponsive in his hotel room in Kaysersberg, France, by his close friend Eric Ripert. The two were filming an upcoming episode for the current season of Parts Unknown .
