The author of a controversial new biography on the late celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain asserts that he “worked himself into a condition of exquisite suffering” during his final days by drinking and sleeping with prostitutes.
The author of the book, Charles Leerhsen, uses files, texts, and emails from Bourdain’s personal phone and laptop to construct a picture of the chef’s life and to emphasize his troubled final days before committing suicide.
“I believe in his final days he worked himself into a condition of exquisite anguish,” said Leehrsen, who describes Bourdain’s battles with drugs and heartache over Italian actress Asia Argento.
‘I am okay. I am not spiteful. I am not envious of your relationship with another man. I am not your owner. You are unbound. As I mentioned. Per my pledge. As I actually intended. However, you were reckless. You acted irresponsibly with my heart. My life,’ Bourdain texted Argento hours prior to his passing.
Leehrsen said of his biography of Anthony Bourdain, Down and Out in Paradise: The Life of Anthony Bourdain, “If I’ve written an unauthorized biography, I’ve also written a sympathetic one that I believe is authentic to the man.”
Charles Leehrsen is making headlines with his new biography of famed chef Anthony Bourdain, despite opposition from Bourdain’s ex-girlfriend and brother.
June 2018, only days before Bourdain committed suicide in France. He was filming for his popular CNN show Parts Unknown.
Leehrsen used data, texts, emails, and search history from Bourdain’s computer and phone to create a portrait of the chef, focusing on his turbulent final days in France.
The book describes Bourdain’s tumultuous connection with Italian actress Asia Argento, whom he contacted hours before he committed suicide.
Although Argento and Bourdain’s brother are opposed to the publication of the ‘unauthorized’ biography, Leehrsen defended his book as’sympathetic’ and ‘authentic to the guy’
Christopher, Bourdain’s brother, told the Times: ‘Everything he writes about relationships and interactions inside our family as children and as adults is completely manufactured or incorrect.’
Christopher Bourdain and Dario Argento could not be reached for more comment on the publishing of the book.
A Simon & Schuster official responded to Bourdain’s brother, stating, “With all due respect, we disagree that the Book includes libelous facts, and we stand by our planned publication.”
According to the New York Times, Leehrsen believes that many members of Bourdain’s inner circle did not speak with him for the book because the chef’s longtime agent, Kim Witherspoon, instructed them not to.
The book describes Bourdain’s transition from a New Jersey adolescent to a renowned but disturbed chef whose writings on food and travel achieved widespread acclaim.
The celebrity committed suicide in a French hotel room in June 2018 while on location filming for his CNN show, Parts Unknown, and appeared to be in great distress at the time.
In a text message to his ex-wife, Ottavia Busia-Bourdain, he groused, ‘I despise my fans, too.’ I detest being renowned. I detest my work.
In Bourdain’s final days, Busia-Bourdain became his confidante, and she is not opposing release of the book. She currently oversees the estate of Bourdain.
Before he died, he told Busia-Bourdain, with whom he had been married for 11 years until their 2016 divorce, “I am lonely and living in continual uncertainty.”
Bourdain was also “hopelessly” in love with Argento, who had recently dumped him in a dispute over photographs of her with a French journalist in Rome.
She had ended their relationship due to his ‘possessiveness’ over her.
Asia Argento with her new man, 26-year-old MMA fighter Michael Martignoni, who is 20 years younger than her.
Asia Argento with her new man, 26-year-old MMA fighter Michael Martignoni, who is 20 years younger than her.
Photographs of the Italian actress dancing with journalist Hugo Clement in the foyer of Hotel de Russie in Rome, where she and Bourdain shared treasured memories, shattered Bourdain’s heart.
The book claims that he subsequently conducted “hundreds” of online searches for her name.
In their final text exchange, he inquired, “Can I do anything?”
She responded, “Stop kicking my balls!”
He replied, “Okay,” and then committed suicide hours later.
Argento refused to comment on the novel. She wrote in an email to the writer that she forbade him from publishing, “Judas always writes the biography.”
THE JOURNALIST BEHIND THE UNAUTHORIZED BOURDAIN BIOGRAPHY SAID THAT THE TELEVISION CHEF HAD “BECOME WHAT HE HAD BECOME”
The book’s author, Charles Leerhsen, has previously written for Rolling Stone. In addition, he was formerly the executive editor of Sports Illustrated.
He stated to The New York Times that he wished to present a side of Bourdain that lacked the polish of ‘an official Bourdain product.’
He stated that by the end of his life, he believed the chef “understood what he had become.”
On October 11, Down And Out In Paradise: The Life of Anthony Bourdain will be released by Charles Leerhsen.
I believe that in his final days and hours, he knew what he had become.
He stated, “I don’t respect him for killing himself, but he did realize and ultimately realize he didn’t want to be the person he had become.”
Despite Bourdain’s brother’s protests, he stated that he had no issue finding enough people to speak with. Leerhsen also asserts that Kim Witherspoon, Bourdain’s agent, instructed others not to speak with him.
He stated, “Many folks were prepared to speak with me since they were abandoned by Tony and the Tony train.”
Leershen has written biographies about Butch Cassidy, Ty Cobb, and television mogul Brandon Tartikoff.