@farmerman,
Quote:Hung himself over being dumpd by his girlfriend whose career he revived .
Do you have a source for that? Everything I've read, and heard. doesn't even speculate on a motive, or hint at problems with his girlfriend, and his suicide seems to have been a very impulsive act.
He also took his responsibilities to his young daughter, and his need to be around for her, very seriously, and he commented on that just a few months ago:
Quote:“I’m going to pretty much die in the saddle,” he told People magazine in February while filming his show “Parts Unknown.”
The 61-year-old chef and TV show host said he spends about 250 days a year on the road — but wasn’t planning on retiring from his globe-trotting life any time soon.
“I gave up on that. I’ve tried. I just think I’m just too nervous, neurotic, driven,” he said. “I would have had a different answer a few years ago. I might have deluded myself into thinking that I’d be happy in a hammock or gardening. But no, I’m quite sure I can’t.”
Despite his busy schedule, Bourdain made sure to carve out five days a month to spend time with his 11-year-old daughter, Ariane, who lives with his ex-wife, Ottavia Busia, in Manhattan.
“I’ll go back, see my daughter, unpack, repack, mimic a normal life, which is extraordinarily pleasurable to me,” he said.
Bourdain said the birth of his only child made him feel like he had “some responsibility” to “at least try to live.”
“I also do feel I have things to live for,” he said. “There have been times, honestly, in my life that I figured, ‘I’ve had a good run — why not just do this stupid thing, this selfish thing … jump off a cliff into water of indeterminate depth,'” he said, recalling something he’d once done for his show “Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations.”
Before his daughter was born, Bourdain said he’d often push his boundaries.
“I was, frankly, asking for trouble. It was a daredevil move,” he said. “In retrospect, I don’t know that I would oday, now that I’m a dad or reasonably happy.”
He described himself to People as being “happy in ways that I have not been in memory” and “happy in ways I didn’t think I ever would be, for sure.”
He credited girlfriend, Asia Argento, with his contentment.
https://pagesix.com/2018/06/08/anthony-bourdain-reflected-on-death-in-months-before-suicide/
This was a sad, really tragic end, for a man who seemed so full of various passions, and curiosity, and meaningful definite values that he put into practice. Why didn't he seek other options for whatever help he needed? We may well never know.
I really enjoyed his "Parts Unknown" series on CNN--it was a fascinating exploration of culture, and history, and diversity all over the world--it focused on a lot more than just food--and he was a wonderful host who genuinely seemed to appreciate it all, and, by example, he was an inspiration to move out of one's comfort zone and take it all in.
Sad, sad, sad.