A new controversial biography has made a sad claim about the American chef's last days. Photo / AP
A new controversial biography has made a sad claim about the American chef's last days. Photo / AP
It's been just over four years since the tragic death of food writer and television host Anthony Bourdain who, to his fans, presented as a profanity-inclined man obsessed with creating and discovering food.
But a new book about the late star's life has made a sad claim about his final years and his struggles with alcohol and substance abuse.
The controversial biography, Down And Out In Paradise: The Life of Anthony Bourdain written by Charles Leerhsen has claimed the American chef and TV presenter overcame his drug addiction but not his drinking problems.
Speaking to the Guardian, Leerhsen said the star "hated himself" for not being able to overcome his alcohol addiction.
"He became someone that he hated. By the time he realised that, he was too physically exhausted to straighten things out," Leerhsen told the outlet.
"He thought it simpler to seek what is famously called 'a permanent solution to a temporary problem'.
"Recovery, you might say, was one of the few things he couldn't go all the way with."
In his 2000 memoir, Kitchen Confidential, Bourdain touched on his addiction and said during his time working as a chef in the 80, he found himself surrounded by kitchens that were "drenched in drugs and alcohol and accompanied by constantly loud rock-and-roll music".
Excerpts have been published in the New York Times and include Leerhsen's claim of a final text message sent from Bourdain's ex, Asia Argento, who had been photographed dancing with another man at a hotel in Rome days before Bourdain died.
Anthony Bourdain's ex-girlfriend Asia Argento. Photo / AP
The new book detailing his final days is "drawing criticism from many of his friends and family", reports the Times with reports that both Bourdain's family and Argento are slamming the book as inaccurate.
His brother, Christopher, told the Times: "Every single thing he writes about relationships and interactions within our family as kids and as adults he fabricated or got totally wrong."
Emails were also sent to the book's publisher Simon & Schuster labelling the book as "hurtful and defamatory fiction".
But the publishing company's response was that: "With all due respect, we disagree that the material in the book contains defamatory information, and we stand by our forthcoming publication."
Argento, who was blamed by many for Bourdain's death, told the Times while she's yet to read Leerhsen's account, she had written to the author imploring him to refrain from publishing "anything I said to him".
In an interview with the Daily Mail just two months after the celebrity chef's death, Argento said: "People say I murdered him. They say I killed him. I understand that the world needs to find a reason. I would like to find a reason too."
