American celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, the Emmy-winning host of CNN‘s “Parts Unknown,” has died from suicide, the network said Friday. He was 61.
CNN host Brian Stelter said on air that Bourdain hanged himself in his hotel room in France.
“It is with extraordinary sadness we can confirm the death of our friend and colleague, Anthony Bourdain,” the network said in a statement Friday morning.
“His love of great adventure, new friends, fine food and drink and the remarkable stories of the world made him a unique storyteller. His talents never ceased to amaze us and we will miss him very much. Our thoughts and prayers are with his daughter and family at this incredibly difficult time.”
Bourdain, who was in France working on an upcoming episode of his show, was found unresponsive in his hotel room Friday morning by his friend Eric Ripert, according to the network.
Ripert, whose French restaurant Le Bernardin in Manhattan boasts a top Michelin three-star rating, frequently appeared alongside Bourdain on “Parts Unknown” and made cameos on some of his earlier TV shows.
“I like to bring the distinguished three-star Michelin chef and good friend Eric Ripert someplace every year and torture him,“ Bourdain once said.
Authorities in France said Bourdain killed himself at the Le Chambard hotel in Kaysersberg-Vignoble, near the border of Germany.
“We learned this morning about the death by hanging of an American chef at a luxury hotel of Kaysersberg, Le Chambard,” a prosecutor in Kaysersberg-Vignoble told French newspaper Dernière Nouvelle D’alsace. “At this point nothing suggests the intervention of a third party.”
Source: Page Six