Anthony Bourdain went from washing dishes to being a celebrity chef — with his suicide at a hotel in France finally putting an end to a wild career that saw him battling drug addiction while still flaunting his vices…
1 of 6
Photo credit: Getty/Files
Anthony Bourdain went from washing dishes to being a celebrity chef — with
his suicide at a hotel in France finally putting an end to a wild career that saw him battling drug addiction while still flaunting his vices.
2 of 6
Photo credit: InStar
The outspoken star had helped to create the modern world of celebrity chefs with his "Kitchen Confidential" memoir in May 2000 — and Bourdain shocked consumers by revealing how drugs often fueled the frantic pace in restaurant kitchens. The book made him a major media figure, including his final years hosting CNN's hit show "Parts Unknown" while refusing to give up some bad habits.
3 of 6
Photo credit: InStar
"I can't do heroin," he told Playboy in 2011, adding he'd also ended his "lifelong relationship with cocaine." But while saying he stayed sober in NYC for his daughter, Bourdain added: "If I'm sitting in the Empty Quarter of the Arabian Desert, though, and it's two in the morning...and my crew and I want to stagger up a dune and smoke some hash and look at the moon, that's a nice thing."
4 of 6
Photo credit: InStar
"I can't do heroin," he told Playboy in 2011, adding he'd also ended his "lifelong relationship with cocaine." But while saying he stayed sober in NYC for his daughter, Bourdain added: "If I'm sitting in the Empty Quarter of the Arabian Desert, though, and it's two in the morning...and my crew and I want to stagger up a dune and smoke some hash and look at the moon, that's a nice thing."
Bourdain also credited his "vanity and self-regard" for allowing him to smoke marijuana and still drink alcohol after giving up other addictions. That included CNN finally allowing him to visit pot dealers while shooting "Parts Unknown," with one of his final shows taking him to Uruguay to sample the local product.
5 of 6
Photo credit: Mega
He still refused to put a positive spin on how hard drugs had destroyed his life. “I was a complete a--hole,” Bourdain once recalled. “Selfish, larcenous, druggy, loud, stupid, insensitive and someone you would not want to have known.”
6 of 6
Photo credit: InStar
While fans were shocked that the TV star took his own life at age 61, Bourdain had also once revealed that his success couldn't make him happy — after years of drug abuse had left him perpetually broke and dodging the IRS. “I’d always owed money,” Bourdain said, insisting that the only thing his income meant to him was “freedom from insecurity.”
Anthony Bourdain went from washing dishes to being a celebrity chef — with
his suicide at a hotel in France finally putting an end to a wild career that saw him battling drug addiction while still flaunting his vices.
Photo credit: Getty/Files
The outspoken star had helped to create the modern world of celebrity chefs with his "Kitchen Confidential" memoir in May 2000 — and Bourdain shocked consumers by revealing how drugs often fueled the frantic pace in restaurant kitchens. The book made him a major media figure, including his final years hosting CNN's hit show "Parts Unknown" while refusing to give up some bad habits.
"I can't do heroin," he told Playboy in 2011, adding he'd also ended his "lifelong relationship with cocaine." But while saying he stayed sober in NYC for his daughter, Bourdain added: "If I'm sitting in the Empty Quarter of the Arabian Desert, though, and it's two in the morning...and my crew and I want to stagger up a dune and smoke some hash and look at the moon, that's a nice thing."
Bourdain also credited his "vanity and self-regard" for allowing him to smoke marijuana and still drink alcohol after giving up other addictions. That included CNN finally allowing him to visit pot dealers while shooting "Parts Unknown," with one of his final shows taking him to Uruguay to sample the local product.
He still refused to put a positive spin on how hard drugs had destroyed his life. “I was a complete a--hole,” Bourdain once recalled. “Selfish, larcenous, druggy, loud, stupid, insensitive and someone you would not want to have known.”
While fans were shocked that the TV star took his own life at age 61, Bourdain had also once revealed that his success couldn't make him happy — after years of drug abuse had left him perpetually broke and dodging the IRS. “I’d always owed money,” Bourdain said, insisting that the only thing his income meant to him was “freedom from insecurity.”
