What Anthony Bourdain's Final Year Was Really Like

There is an Anthony Bourdain biopic coming soon to a screen near you. Many details remain unclear about what particular elements of his life the film will depict, although Deadline has already confirmed that "The Holdovers" star Dominic Sessa is attached to play the leading role. One way or the other, the impact of the famous chef's death will be revisited by audiences around the world — many of whom received the news of his passing with great shock on June 8, 2018. Suddenly, 61 years of what had been a life of great tragedy, but also massive accomplishment and celebration was brought to an end.

It also represented the finish line in what had been an eventful preceding 12 months. Everything that happened to Bourdain — good and bad — in that time period somehow encapsulated the kind of life he had lived: adventurous, daring, loving, but also sometimes a little reckless. Let's take a closer look at the moments and events that shaped the final year of Bourdain's life.

Before he became a celebrity chef, Anthony Bourdain ran the kitchen at Brasserie Les Halles, a French restaurant in Manhattan. At the time, Les Halles had locations in Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Miami, and Tokyo. But it needed a head chef for its New York flagship. Co-owner Jose de Meirelles invited Bourdain and his wife, Nancy Putkoski, to dine there before he took the job. Restaurant owner Philippe Lajaunie remembered meeting Bourdain that night. He told Resy he saw how much Bourdain had enjoyed the food, and knew he was the right fit. Soon, Bourdain was running a fast-paced kitchen, serving up steak frites and French onion soup to packed crowds.

While working at Les Halles, Bourdain wrote "Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly," published in 2000. It became a New York Times bestseller and launched his career beyond the kitchen. Decades later, as Bourdain's career took him around the world, Les Halles faced financial struggles. The D.C. location shut down in November 2008 due to lease issues. The Miami outpost also eventually closed. The flagship Park Avenue South location, where Bourdain made his name, closed in March 2016 primarily due to rising rent costs. The final restaurant on John Street ceased operations in August 2017 after declaring bankruptcy (via Eater). In 2021, Les Halles briefly reopened for a special pop-up event honoring Bourdain's legacy, bringing former colleagues and fans together to celebrate the restaurant that helped shape his career.

In his final year, Anthony Bourdain was still doing what he loved — traveling, telling stories, and sharing meals with people around the world. He was in the middle of filming the 12th season of "Parts Unknown" for CNN. According to the Los Angeles Times, he had fully completed just one episode with "United Shades of America" host W. Kamau Bell. It would be the only episode featuring his written narration. The rest of the season had to be pieced together using on-location audio and interviews with those who traveled with him.

Bourdain had already filmed episodes in Texas, New York, Mexico, Spain, and Indonesia. On June 8, 2018, while filming another "Parts Unknown" episode in France, Bourdain died by suicide. His close friend, French chef Eric Ripert, found him unresponsive in his hotel room at Le Chambard hotel, located in Kaysersberg near Colmar.

After his passing, his creative team and production partners, Zero Point Zero came together. They decided to finish the show without his narration. ZPZ cofounder Lydia Tenaglia told The Ringer: "Through a really, really difficult, soul-crushing time, it was helpful for people to focus their energy into finishing something that they had started. Tony would've enjoyed this — figuring out how to finish those shows without his narration." The series finale aired on November 11, 2018, and included fan reactions and appearances from past guests.

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Anthony Bourdain won multiple posthumous Emmy Awards for "Parts Unknown." One of those was for Outstanding Writing for a Nonfiction Programming. This award was in recognition of an episode that he and Bell had filmed in Kenya in early 2018. The episode can be found on HBO Max. The pair's time in the East African country was quite an adventure, which saw them engaging enthusiastically with different aspects of the local culture. Notably, the visit would have not been complete without the two gentlemen sampling the local cuisine.

Bell recalled details of the trip to Kenya in a Q&A for an online "Parts Unknown" blog dedicated to Bourdain. "As many people of color have said, Anthony Bourdain was not your regular white man. I wouldn't have gone to Kenya with him if I thought he wasn't who he was," he said.

As far as his vastly superior experience of touring the world went, the celebrated chef had a special lesson to share with Bell and the team, according to the "United Shades" star: "Tony's lesson to all of us [was]: Don't be a bad tourist. You're still going to be a tourist, but don't be an insensitive tourist."

Anthony Bourdain had a bit of a reputation as a hopeless romantic, and he reportedly had a rocky relationship with his girlfriend Asia Argento. The pair had experienced a significantly complicated relationship since they first met and seemingly hit it off back in 2016. There had been rumors of infidelity between them, claims that Argento would later confirm, albeit after Bourdain was gone. The actress and filmmaker said that both parties had been unfaithful, but insisted that it had not caused trouble in their relationship.

"I understand that people wanted to blame me [and] see me as the negative person, the destroyer," she said teary-eyed in an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail. "People need to think that he killed himself for something like this? [But] he had cheated on me too. It wasn't a problem for us."

Sadly, this tension continued into the final days of Bourdain's life. When photos emerged of Argento dancing in Rome with French reporter Hugo Clément, it reportedly sparked a bitter fight between them on text, during which he accused her of having been "reckless" with his heart and his life. This was according to "Down and Out in Paradise: The Life of Anthony Bourdain," an unauthorized biography of the chef by Charles Leerhsen.

While their love life continued to endure some sharp ups and downs, Anthony Bourdain kept any personal grudges he might have held against Asia Argento at home when he strongly recommended that she direct one episode of his show "Parts Unknown." Ordinarily, helming duties for the program belonged to Michael Steed, who has since also gone on to produce David Letterman's "My Next Guest Needs No Introduction." He fell ill when they were meant to be filming for the "Hong Kong" episode of Season 11, however, and Bourdain apparently took the opportunity to advocate for his partner to step in temporarily.

To be fair, he did always appear to have strong faith in her abilities. In 2017, he spoke to People about how she inspired his career and really praised her as a professional. "She's a really accomplished director and writer along with being a longtime actress and a real sponge for culture, music, literature," said Bourdain.

Steed was not with him on this one, though. In the audiobook "Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography," by Laurie Woolever, he is quoted saying that he did not like the idea of Argento taking his place. "The second that I knew that [Argento] was slated to direct, I knew it was doomed ... I knew someone was doomed," per SCMP.

When Ottavia Busia-Bourdain separated from Anthony Bourdain after nine years of marriage in 2016, many would have been forgiven for expecting some fireworks to follow in the face of impending divorce. Weeks would turn into months and then years with no fireworks and no divorce. The split remained in effect, and Bourdain even started seeing Argento — and very publicly at that.

For Busia-Bourdain, it seemed that this turn of events had no bearing on how she approached her relationship with her late husband at the time. In an email to Page Six shortly after the separation, she had said, "Because of professional decisions we both have made, my husband and I have been for years in an unconventional relationship. Nothing has changed. We love each other. We respect the decisions the other has made. And we'll always consider ourselves a family." Their daughter, Ariane is turning 18 years old in April 2025.

One thing about Anthony Bourdain is that he never quite stopped moving. Whatever it was he faced that eventually drove him towards his end had definitely not been enough to slow him down from work. And one of the most notable endeavors of the final year of his life was "Wasted! The Story of Food Waste."

This was a documentary project that he undertook in collaboration with the Rockefeller Foundation, highlighting the environmental impact of food waste, including deforestation, water extraction, and biodiversity loss. "Wasted" premiered at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival, before later being released in select theaters and on demand.

Bourdain was not the only celebrity chef involved in the making of the film. Danny Bowien, Dan Barber, Massimo Bottura, and Mario Batali all contributed as well. The premise of the documentary was to essentially see how these bright culinary minds took a minimalist approach to cooking to reduce wastage as much as possible.

Anthony Bourdain was clearly trying to make healthier choices as he grew older. For a start, he had decided to finally stop smoking. In a prior interview with 8 Days in 2006, the New York-born journeyman had confirmed the extent of his dependence on cigarettes: "I chain-smoke, drink too much, and don't snack ... I smoke two packs a day."

Bourdain would have likely felt that he had finally overcome the habit after three years without smoking. For whatever reason, however, he picked it back up in 2017. He would later joke that it was President Obama who inspired him to do it after the two dined at a local noodle shop in Hanoi, Vietnam the year before. The famous CNN personality had never shied away from his own history of addiction.

One of the main reasons why Anthony Bourdain was so publicly adored was because he never shied away from telling it as it is. Or even a fight for that matter, if it came to that. He even seriously considered quitting "Parts Unknown" at one point.

Bourdain spent a few days out of what would sadly turn out to be his final year on earth picking a fight with legendary Hollywood director Quentin Tarantino. This was in 2017, the same year when the #MeToo movement was really starting to gather momentum and affect some of the biggest names in showbiz. Harvey Weinstein was of course at the heart of all this drama, having previously been one of Tarantino's closest associates in the industry.

Bourdain appeared to pick on this when he spoke about purportedly turning down a lucrative opportunity to work with a Weinstein-esque figure within Hollywood. Speaking at the Producers Guild of America's Produced By Conference NY, he said, "[Taking the deal] would have nibbled away at our souls until we ended up like Quentin Tarantino, looking back on a life of complicity and shame and compromise."

It's not just his forthrightness that made Anthony Bourdain such a man of the people. Many marginalized communities saw him as an ally, a badge of honor he wore proudly to his very end. His very public calling out of Quentin Tarantino was in fact not an isolated event. Even within his very own cooking community, he had started to become very vocal about allegations of sexual impropriety that had been made against various influential figures.

Take his fellow celebrity chef Mario Batali. The then ultra-successful restaurateur found himself tossed into a storm of accusations that would ultimately ruin his career. Bourdain wrote about this turn of events in a write-up on his Medium page. Also subject to his commentary was Ken Friedman, who faced similar allegations.

"Any admiration I have expressed in the past for Mario Batali and Ken Friedman, whatever I might feel about them, however much I admired and respected them, is, in light of these charges, irrelevant," Bourdain wrote. "In these current circumstances, one must pick a side. I stand unhesitatingly and unwaveringly with the women."

Anthony Bourdain did not sit on the fence when it came to choosing a side between his peers and their accusers. But while he was calling out people in events and on the internet, one apparent part of his own history threatened to challenge his moral standing. You see, Asia Argento herself had been accused of sexual assault by actor Jimmy Bennett.

In a notice of intent to sue, he claimed that she had slept with him in May 2013 when he was 17 and still below the age of consent in California. Keep in mind that there is a 20-year age gap between Bennett and Argento. She was emphatic in her response, insisting that the story was a complete fabrication.

"I am deeply shocked and hurt by having read news that is absolutely false. I have never had any sexual relationship with Bennett," Argento said in a statement on social media, as was reported by The New York Times. She did confirm that Bourdain had paid the actor off in a $380,000 settlement, but only because he did not want the potential negative press that would have come with a drawn out court case.

When describing the idea behind "Parts Unknown," Anthony Bourdain once recalled his very original sell when he first pitched the concept to Food Network. He described it as a show where "I travel around the world, eat a lot of s***, and basically do whatever the f*** I want." To be honest, that catchphrase would not have been out of place in the least as his actual life motto.

Another one of the things he wanted to and managed to do before his death was his YouTube series "Raw Craft." The show featured short-form episodes of anywhere between seven and 12 minutes. In each of those, Bourdain would visit talented craftspeople working on various projects across the country.

"Raw Craft" kicked off in 2015 when the host followed the creation of cast-iron skillets using recycled materials. A few more episodes followed in 2016, with two more being released in 2017. In his very final appearance on "Raw Craft," Bourdain interviewed Max Hazan, who makes custom motorcycles from scratch.

From the outside looking in, Anthony Bourdain appeared to have it all. His career was not only blossoming, but he was also in control of the kind of shows he did. He got paid handsomely to travel the world and sample different cultures. He had a beautiful girlfriend who sparked a boy-like infatuation from him. Even his estranged wife was not a source of strife, it would seem. Yet such is the mysterious nature of some mental health challenges, his final days on earth appear to have been filled with sadness.

According to Charles Leerhsen's account in "Down and Out in Paradise," Ottavio Busia-Bourdain was one of his confidants in the days leading up to his unfortunate passing. In one gut-wrenching text, he is said to have expressed his frustration with life: "I hate my fans, too. I hate being famous. I hate my job. I am lonely and living in constant uncertainty", (via NY Times).

French chef, author, and TV personality Eric Ripert was one of those who got to be part of Anthony Bourdain's inner circles. He was indeed one of the very last people to see the "Parts Unknown" presenter alive, when they shared a meal at the two Michelin star restaurant JY's in Colmar. This is what People reported in 2022, adding that the pair combined with JY owner Jean-Yves Schillinger to wrap up their evening with a beer run in the not-too-distant city of Freiburg, Germany.

On the fateful day when Bourdain died, he had apparently turned down their customary dinner with Ripert and instead chose to go out alone. A waiter by the name Maxime Voinson was interviewed at Le Chambard Hotel where the tragedy occurred. "Mr. Ripert thought it was strange. We thought it was strange. Mr. Bourdain knew the chef, Monsieur Nasti; he knew the kitchen. Maybe he went out and ate somewhere else, we said, but we didn't think much of it," Voinson said to The NY Times. The level of alarm was raised when Bourdain failed to turn up for breakfast and was instead found deceased in his room.

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