‘He was a shark’: Anthony Bourdain’s loved ones reveal obsessions with exes, drugs, tanning

https://nypost.com ^ | September 28, 2021 | By Hailey Eber

[Red Badger]

A few months after Anthony Bourdain’s death in June 2018 at age 61, his longtime assistant Laurie Woolever started interviewing his friends and family. Woolever first met Bourdain in 2002 when he hired her to help him write a cookbook. After working with him for so long, she thought she knew pretty much all there was to know about him.

But she quickly learned she was wrong.

There were “stories I’d never heard and insights and observations that were new to me,” Woolever told The Post. “I learned something new from every single person that I spoke with.”

Those emotional, sometimes shocking anecdotes and remembrances form her new book, “Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography” (Ecco, Sept. 28). Some 91 people, from journalist Christiane Amanpour to restaurateur David Chang, shared their thoughts on the late writer, whose dark final days were recently recounted in the documentary “Roadrunner.” The revelations include never-before-shared memories and disturbing common themes.

One surprising thread that kept popping up over and over, Woolever said, was that many of Tony’s friends had the experience of wanting more — and not being able to get close enough to him.

“They always had the sense that he was on his way somewhere,” she said.

“He was a shark, always on the move,” recalls “Parts Unknown” director and editor Nick Brigden. “He had to move to survive.”

Even those who had a fame equal to or greater than Bourdain expressed such sentiments.

“Every time I was with him, I wanted it to go longer,” says Anderson Cooper, who worked with Bourdain at CNN. “And I wanted to be friends with him. I wanted him to really like me.”

Woolever also learned about Bourdain’s strange obsession with suntanning, which started in his early days.

[CtBigPat]

Pretty much everything that’s wrong with entertainers. Just another broken sinner, who refuses to acknowledge that fact, who blasphemes the holy things to encourage depravity in others.

I see it quite the opposite. He was not some fake Mr Happy Smiles and Sunshine. He was a rough, tough character who talked honestly about the harsh realities of the restaurant business. He wasn't afraid to call things as he saw them and for his honesty I respect him.

[mass55th]

"He was a turd."

I tried watching his show once, and turned it off. The guy was an obnoxious, arrogant, condescending a-hole.

[Red Badger]

..I didn’t have a cooked hamburger until I ate at a McDonald’s when I was 11.

You still didn't.....................

[moovova]

He did an episode in Sicily that I enjoyed. I was stationed in Sicily in the mid-70’s.

[ecomcon]

Respect? Uh, no.

I was mostly addressing the ghastly poster/meme.

As an aside, you said he was not “some fake Mr Happy Smiles and Sunshine”. Why was he not a real Mr Happy Smiles and Sunshine?

Or do we prefer the sinner rather than the saint?

I would rather have Happy Smiles and Sunshine than Depravity, Rebellion, and Death.

[CtBigPat]

The t shirt design was draw shortly after his death, it’s supposed to be ironic. He was no saint, but wasn’t there a guy who hung out with sinners a few years back? You’ve probably heard of Him.

[dfwgator]

That said, if you like travel shows, I highly recommend the Youtuber Bald and Bankrupt. It's addicting. He travels exactly how I like to travel.

He's great.

[Vision]

He lived a highly immoral, debauched(at times hateful) life with fleeting moments of sheer light. IMO he always had to keep moving in impossible attempts to escape his tortured soul tortured all the more by his arrogant immorality. He killed himself because he naively, obsessively fell immaturely in love with an immoral woman and foolishly centered his life around her. When she was publicly unfaithful to him there was nothing left for his ego to live for. It's pathetic that many claim “oh, we'll never know why he killed himself." The timeline of events is very clear. He could have surrendered to Christ and still be alive. Killing himself while he has a young daughter is even worse.

[Vision]

He wanted to poison Trump.

[avenir]

“He had a hard time maintaining relationships with contemporary women.

Nevertheless he still liked women.

Because he liked women, he was uninterested in any deep, probing relationship with Anderson Cooper.”

LOL!