Less than a week after the news that Kate Spade had been found dead from an apparent suicide, comes news that Anthony Bourdain has passed as a result of a suicide by hanging.
Best known as a celebrity chef, and for his current CNN “Parts Unknown” television series, Bourdain was reported by CNN to have been found in his French hotel room, in Strasbourg, France. Bourdain was reportedly in France, working on an episode for his television series.
Bourdain’s death comes closely on the heels of the announcement earlier in the week of the suicide of fashion designer Kate Spade, world renowned for her shoes and handbags, who was found in her New York apartment, from an apparent suicide by hanging as well.
Image Credit: David Rentas/Rex/Shutterstock
Bourdain is best known as a celebrity chef, who began working in kitchens in New York in the late 70’s after graduating from the Culinary Institute of America. His career took flight in 1999, when his article “Don’t Eat Before Reading This” was published in New York Magazine. He took that same article and in 2000 published it as a book titled “Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly.”
Following his publishing success, Bourdain segued into television programs on both the Food Network and the Travel Channel. In 2013 he settled into his current show on CNN.
Image Credit: Jim Cooper/AP
Bourdain had a great love of adventure, meeting new people, fine food and wine, and is believed by many to be a remarkable storyteller. His death is a great loss to those who followed his show on CNN and he will be greatly missed by many.
With the deaths of two highly prominent individuals in the same week, the current upswing in suicides nationwide is being brought to the forefront of attention. Between the years of 1999 and 2016, every US state has seen a vast increase in suicide rates, as reported by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A reported 45,000 suicides were reported in 2016, making suicide the third largest killer just behind Alzheimer’s disease and drug overdose in the US. One thing is for sure, suicide is becoming a very present and clear danger in our nation.