Programming note: CNN will air "Remembering Anthony Bourdain," a special report on the life and legacy of the chef, storyteller and writer, tonight at 10 p.m. ET.
New York (CNN) In death, as in life, Anthony Bourdain brought us closer together.
On his award-winning series, "Parts Unknown," Bourdain brought the world home to CNN viewers. Through the simple act of sharing meals, he showcased both the extraordinary diversity of cultures and cuisines, yet how much we all have in common.
Tragically, he proved this again on Friday. Bourdain's death shook television viewers around the world . The most common sentiment: "I feel like I've lost a friend."
The lines are staffed by a mix of paid professionals and unpaid volunteers trained in crisis and suicide intervention. The confidential environment, the 24-hour accessibility, a caller's ability to hang up at any time and the person-centered care have helped its success, advocates say. The International Association for Suicide Prevention and Befrienders Worldwide also provide contact information for crisis centers around the world.
There is also a crisis text line . For crisis support in Spanish, call 1-888-628-9454.
The suicide rate in the United States has seen sharp increases in recent years. Studies have shown that the risk of suicide declines sharply when people call the national suicide hotline: 1-800-273-TALK.
Bourdain was a larger-than-life figure -- a gifted chef and storyteller who used his books and shows to explore culture, cuisine and the human condition.
"Tony was a symphony," his friend and fellow chef Andrew Zimmern said Friday.
The news of Bourdain's death was met by profound sadness within CNN, where "Parts Unknown" has aired for the past five years. In an email to employees, the network's president, Jeff Zucker, remembered him as an "exceptional talent."
"Tony will be greatly missed not only for his work but also for the passion with which he did it," Zucker wrote.
CNN said Bourdain was in France working on an upcoming episode of his award-winning CNN series, "Parts Unknown." His close friend Eric Ripert, the French chef, found Bourdain unresponsive in his hotel room Friday morning. He was 61 and took his own life.
"Anthony was my best friend," Ripert tweeted. "An exceptional human being, so inspiring & generous. One of the great storytellers who connected w so many. I pray he is at peace from the bottom of my heart. My love and prayers are also w his family, friends and loved ones."
Anthony was my best friend. An exceptional human being, so inspiring & generous. One of the great storytellers who connected w so many. I pray he is at peace from the bottom of my heart. My love & prayers are also w his family, friends and loved ones. pic.twitter.com/LbIeZK14ia — Eric Ripert (@ericripert) June 8, 2018
Viewers felt connected to Bourdain through his fearless travels, his restless spirit and his magical way with words.
"His talents never ceased to amaze us and we will miss him very much," CNN said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers are with his daughter and family at this incredibly difficult time."
CNN's chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, called Bourdain a "giant talent."
"My heart breaks for Tony Bourdain," she wrote on Twitter. "May he rest in peace now."
My heart breaks for Tony Bourdain. May he rest in peace now. He was a friend, a collaborator, and family. A huge personality, a giant talent, a unique voice, and deeply, deeply human. My heart goes out to his daughter and family, and his longtime partners and friends at ZPZ. — Christiane Amanpour (@camanpour) June 8, 2018
President Donald Trump extended his condolences to Bourdain's family on Friday morning. "I enjoyed his show," Trump said. "He was quite a character."
Former President Barack Obama recalled a mea l he shared with Bourdain in Vietnam while Obama was on a trip through Asia in 2016 -- an encounter captured in a "Parts Unknown" episode that year.
"'Low plastic stool, cheap but delicious noodles, cold Hanoi beer.' This is how I'll remember Tony," Obama posted to Twitter on Friday. "He taught us about food -- but more importantly, about its ability to bring us together. To make us a little less afraid of the unknown. We'll miss him."
"Low plastic stool, cheap but delicious noodles, cold Hanoi beer." This is how I'll remember Tony. He taught us about food — but more importantly, about its ability to bring us together. To make us a little less afraid of the unknown. We'll miss him. pic.twitter.com/orEXIaEMZM — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) June 8, 2018
For the past year, Bourdain had been dating Italian actress Asia Argento. She remembered Bourdain as someone who "gave all of himself in everything that he did."
Last year, he advocated for Argento as she went public with accusations against disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. "He was my love, my rock, my protector. I am beyond devastated."
Photos: Anthony Bourdain's life in pictures Photos: Anthony Bourdain's life in pictures Anthony Bourdain shoots an episode of his CNN show "Parts Unknown" in Salvador, Brazil, in 2014. Hide Caption 1 of 22 Photos: Anthony Bourdain's life in pictures A young Bourdain, right, takes a photo with his dad, Pierre, and his brother, Christopher, on New Jersey's Long Beach Island in 1970. Pierre Bourdain was a music executive with Columbia Records. His wife, Gladys, was an editor for The New York Times. Hide Caption 2 of 22 Photos: Anthony Bourdain's life in pictures Bourdain, left, is seen in the 1970s with fellow chefs in Provincetown, Massachusetts. He later went to culinary school before working at various restaurants in New York City. Hide Caption 3 of 22 Photos: Anthony Bourdain's life in pictures Bourdain poses for a portrait in his New York apartment in 1997. Three years later, he published his best-selling book "Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly." Hide Caption 4 of 22 Photos: Anthony Bourdain's life in pictures Bourdain sits at his New York City restaurant Brasserie Les Halles in 2001. The Smithsonian once called Bourdain "the original rock star" of the culinary world. Hide Caption 5 of 22 Photos: Anthony Bourdain's life in pictures Bourdain poses in a Sydney kitchen in 2005. He got his first TV show in 2002 when he hosted "A Cook's Tour" on the Food Network. Hide Caption 6 of 22 Photos: Anthony Bourdain's life in pictures His breakout show, "Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations," aired on the Travel Channel from 2005-2012. Bourdain would take viewers around the world to show how different cultures enjoy their food. Hide Caption 7 of 22 Photos: Anthony Bourdain's life in pictures Bourdain joins another celebrity chef, Gordon Ramsay, in the kitchen of "The London," Ramsay's former restaurant in New York, in 2006. "Stunned and saddened by the loss of Anthony Bourdain," Ramsay said on Friday. "He brought the world into our homes and inspired so many people to explore cultures and cities through their food." Hide Caption 8 of 22 Photos: Anthony Bourdain's life in pictures Bourdain holds his daughter, Ariane, in 2008. Ariane was his only child. Hide Caption 9 of 22 Photos: Anthony Bourdain's life in pictures Bourdain and his second wife, Ottavia, get matching snake tattoos in South Beach, Florida, in 2011. The two divorced in 2016. Hide Caption 10 of 22 Photos: Anthony Bourdain's life in pictures Bourdain rides an all-terrain vehicle in Colombia while filming "Parts Unknown." The CNN show premiered in 2013. Hide Caption 11 of 22 Photos: Anthony Bourdain's life in pictures Bourdain was also one of the judges on the reality show "The Taste," a cooking competition that ran from 2013-2015. Hide Caption 12 of 22 Photos: Anthony Bourdain's life in pictures Bourdain enjoys a bite of food while on location in Vietnam. While accepting a Peabody Award for "Parts Unknown" in 2013, Bourdain said: "We ask very simple questions: What makes you happy? What do you eat? What do you like to cook? And everywhere in the world we go and ask these very simple questions. We tend to get some really astonishing answers." Hide Caption 13 of 22 Photos: Anthony Bourdain's life in pictures Bourdain visits the Serengeti plain in Tanzania in 2014. Hide Caption 14 of 22 Photos: Anthony Bourdain's life in pictures Bourdain accepts an Emmy Award for "Parts Unknown" in 2014. Hide Caption 15 of 22 Photos: Anthony Bourdain's life in pictures Bourdain films in Beirut, Lebanon, in 2015. Hide Caption 16 of 22 Photos: Anthony Bourdain's life in pictures Bourdain and chef Eric Ripert have lunch in Marseille, France, in 2015. Ripert was the person who found Bourdain unresponsive in his hotel room Friday. Hide Caption 17 of 22 Photos: Anthony Bourdain's life in pictures Bourdain enjoys a "hangover cure" breakfast that chef Nigella Lawson made for him at her home in London in 2016. Hide Caption 18 of 22 Photos: Anthony Bourdain's life in pictures Bourdain sits down with US President Barack Obama during a "Parts Unknown" episode in Hanoi, Vietnam, in 2016. Over a dish of bun cha, Obama shared personal stories and reflected on his own international travels. Hide Caption 19 of 22 Photos: Anthony Bourdain's life in pictures Bourdain sits down for lunch with Hausa people in Lagos, Nigeria, in 2017. "People open up to him and, in doing so, often reveal more about their hometowns or homelands than a traditional reporter could hope to document," said judges for the Peabody Award, who honored Bourdain in 2013. Hide Caption 20 of 22 Photos: Anthony Bourdain's life in pictures While appearing on "The Tonight Show" with Jimmy Fallon in 2017, Bourdain plays a "Secret Ingredient" game with Fallon and actress Sienna Miller. Hide Caption 21 of 22 Photos: Anthony Bourdain's life in pictures Bourdain rides a train in Sri Lanka in 2017. Tributes are pouring in from all over the world after his death. "Tony Bourdain made the world a smarter, better place, and nobody will forget him," tweeted "Chopped" host Ted Allen. Hide Caption 22 of 22
Bourdain's death came days after fashion designer Kate Spade died in a suicide at her Manhattan apartment.
Suicide is a growing problem in the United States. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a survey Thursday showing suicide rates increased by 25% across the country over nearly two decades ending in 2016. Twenty-five states experienced a rise in suicides by more than 30%, the government report finds.
'The Elvis of bad boy chefs'
Bourdain was a master of his crafts -- first in the kitchen and then in the media. Through his TV shows and books , he helped audiences think differently about food, travel and themselves. He advocated for marginalized populations and campaigned for safer working conditions for restaurant staffs.
Along the way, he received practically every award the industry has to offer.
In 2013, Peabody Award judges honored Bourdain and "Parts Unknown" for "expanding our palates and horizons in equal measure."
"He's irreverent, honest, curious, never condescending, never obsequious," the judges said. "People open up to him and, in doing so, often reveal more about their hometowns or homelands than a traditional reporter could hope to document."
The Smithsonian once called him "the original rock star" of the culinary world, "the Elvis of bad boy chefs." His shows took him to more than 100 countries and three networks.
While accepting the Peabody award in 2013, Bourdain described how he approached his work.
"We ask very simple questions: What makes you happy? What do you eat? What do you like to cook? And everywhere in the world we go and ask these very simple questions," he said. "We tend to get some really astonishing answers."
Friends and acquaintances remembered Bourdain's curiosity for the world's variety of cultures and cuisine rubbing off on them.
His good friend Michael Ruhlman said he was stunned by news of the suicide.
"The last I knew, he was in love. He was happy," Ruhlman told CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360." "He said, 'Love abounds' -- some of the last words he said to me."
Ruhlman said Bourdain was much more sensitive than people realized, but that sensitivity coupled with Bourdain's bravado made him a great storyteller.
Ruhlman and chef James Syhabout both said that when people found out they knew Bourdain, they would ask what he really was like.
Exactly like he was on camera, they said.
"And that's the beauty of him," Syhabout told CNN's "Erin Burnett OutFront." "He's unapologetically honest. ... It all gives us courage to be ourselves and be individuals and that's what really radiates from him."
Chef and writer Edward Lee, who hosted a season of a show produced by Bourdain, looked back at their time working together and wrote that "Tony gave us a world that we didn't know we needed."
Others who fondly recalled their interactions with Bourdain included chef Gordon Ramsay, who said Bourdain "brought the world into our homes and inspired so many people to explore cultures and cities through their food."
From 'happy dishwasher' to addiction to fame
Bourdain grew up in Leonia, New Jersey, and started working in kitchens in his teens -- including on Massachusetts' Cape Cod during the summer.
"I was a happy dishwasher," he said in a 2016 interview on NPR's "Fresh Air." "I jokingly say that I learned every important lesson, all the most important lessons of my life, as a dishwasher."
It was during those early jobs, he said, that he began using drugs, eventually developing a heroin addiction and other problems that he later said should have killed him in his 20s. He often talked of his addiction later in life.
"Somebody who wakes up in the morning and their first order of business is (to) get heroin -- I know what that's like," Bourdain said in a 2014 "Parts Unknown" episode highlighting an opioid crisis in Massachusetts.
After spending two years at New York's Vassar College, he dropped out and enrolled in culinary school. He spent years as a line cook and sous chef at restaurants in the Northeast before becoming executive chef at Manhattan's Brasserie Les Halles.
A different passion -- his writing -- helped put him on the map by his early 40s.
"In America, the professional kitchen is the last refuge of the misfit. It's a place for people with bad pasts to find a new family," he wrote.
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The article morphed into a best-selling book in 2000, "Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly," which was translated into more than two dozen languages.
"When the book came out, it very quickly transformed my life -- I mean, changed everything," he told NPR.
Bourdain found himself on a path to international stardom. First, he hosted "A Cook's Tour" on the Food Network, then moved to the Travel Channel with "Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations," a breakout hit that earned two Emmy Awards and more than a dozen nominations.
In 2013, both Bourdain and CNN took a risk by bringing him to a network still best known for breaking news and headlines. Bourdain quickly became one of its principal faces and a linchpin of its prime-time schedule.
Season 11 of "Parts Unknown" premiered last month on CNN, with destinations including Uruguay, Armenia and West Virginia. The series has been honored with five Emmys.
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In his final weeks, Bourdain said he was especially looking forward to an episode about Hong Kong, which aired Sunday.
He called it a "dream show" in which he linked up with longtime Hong Kong resident and cinematographer Christopher Doyle.
"The idea was just to interview him and maybe get him to hold a camera. He ended up being director of photography for the entire episode," Bourdain told CNN in April. "For me it was like asking Joe DiMaggio to, you know, sign my baseball and instead he joined my Little League team for the whole season."
The show's website on Friday posted an homage to Bourdain featuring one of his many oft-repeated quotations -- one that seemed to embody his philosophy: "If I'm an advocate for anything, it's to move. As far as you can, as much as you can. Across the ocean, or simply across the river. Walk in someone else's shoes or at least eat their food."
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(CNN) Anthony Bourdain brought cuisines from around the world to viewers who might never otherwise have contemplated them. But his shows were always about so much more than that.
After his death was announced on Friday, many commentators have noted Bourdain's ability to tell broader stories about a country's history and culture through the lens of its food. More often than not, people of the countries that were the subject of his films would remark on the insight he conveyed to the rest of the world.
Bourdain made a particular impact in the Middle East -- he made memorable films in Iran, Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian territories. People in the Middle East noted on Friday how he was able to tell stories that went beyond the superficial picture painted by the daily news cycle.
Over the course of his TV career -- for CNN's "Parts Unknown" and earlier for the Travel Channel -- Bourdain returned to the Middle East many times. But it was the Lebanese capital of Beirut that appeared to make a particular mark, writing once that he considered naming his newborn daughter after the city.
Beirut
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Bourdain fell in love with Beirut after returning from shooting an episode of one his previous shows, "No Reservations," in 2006. He and his crew had been in the city for 24 hours when they became trapped in the beginnings of the Lebanese-Israeli conflict. They were rescued and taken to Cyprus, before flying home.
Our Beirut experience did not give me delusions of being a journalist. I just saw that there were realities beyond what was on my plate
"One day I was making television about eating and drinking. The next I was watching the airport I'd landed in a few days earlier being blown up across the water from my hotel window.
"I came away from the experience deeply embittered, confused -- and determined to make television differently than I had before. I didn't know how I was going to do it or whether my network at the time was going to allow me, but the days of happy horseshit -- the uplifting sum-up at the end of every show, the reflex inclusion of a food scene in every act -- that ended right there."
He added: "Our Beirut experience did not give me delusions of being a journalist. I just saw that there were realities beyond what was on my plate, and those realities almost inevitably informed what was -- or was not -- for dinner. To ignore them had come to seem monstrous."
"And yet I'd already fallen in love with Beirut. We all had -- everyone on my crew. As soon as we'd landed, headed into town, there was a reaction I can only describe as pheromonic: The place just smelled good. Like a place we were going to love."
Anthony Bourdain loved Beirut so much, he considered naming his daughter after the city.
Ramsay Short, who worked as a fixer for Bourdain and appeared in the three of his Beirut shows, described Bourdain as cool-headed when news broke that Israel had bombed the Beirut airport runway. It wasn't the start of the war but it marked the first major escalation that turned it from a skirmish to a full-on confrontation.
"He amazingly wasn't too freaked out. He could handle the situation. The rest of the program was about waiting for the US marines to get him out of there," Short told CNN.
Short also talked about the affection Bourdain felt for the Lebanese, and how that was reciprocated.
"He was embraced by the Lebanese and they embraced him back, and that was something that really got to him at that time. When he saw what happened during the Israeli bombardment, he was flabbergasted and found it extremely painful and it was enough to make him want to come back -- not just once but twice more."
Part of what Short admired most about Bourdain was his ability to show places that everyone could relate to.
"He came and saw this thriving country as an example of what it could be if it wasn't for all the chaos, war and uncertainty. He was just so fascinated."
He said he thought people connected with Bourdain because he was honest and genuine, and always said what he meant.
"No arguments about that. That is something that really appeals to people," Short said.
"You feel like you have a relationship with this person, like he's your best friend. His wit and humor and his ability to suddenly, in an awkward situation, say one thing that can relax the room. Everyone loves someone who can make you laugh."
Iran
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When Bourdain visited Iran in 2014, he said he came back with a confusing picture of the country, as what he experienced was so at odds with what he understood of the country from the vision portrayed by the US government.
He wrote: "What we saw, what we came back with, is a deeply confusing story. Because the Iran you see from the inside, once you walk the streets of Tehran, once you meet Iranians, is a very different place than the Iran you know from the news. Nowhere else I've been has the disconnect been so extreme between what one sees and feels from the people and what one sees and hears from the government."
I have said that Iran is the most outgoingly warm, pro-American place we've ever shot, and that's true
He went on: "I have said that Iran is the most outgoingly warm, pro-American place we've ever shot, and that's true: In Tehran, in spite of the fact that you are standing in front of a giant, snarling mural that reads 'DEATH TO AMERICA!,' we found that you will usually be treated better by strangers — meaning smiles, offers of assistance, curious attempts to engage in limited English, greetings and expressions of general good will — than anywhere in Western Europe."
Anthony Bourdain said Iran was the most pro-American place he had ever filmed in.
He added: "This is not a black-and-white world — as much as people would like to portray it as such. That's not an apology for anything. I'm just saying that the brief, narrow slice of Iran we give you in this episode of Parts Unknown is only one part of a much deeper, multihued, very old, and very complicated story. Like anything as ancient and as beautiful as the Persian Empire, it's worth, I think, looking further. But it's also a place that can warm your heart one day and break it the next."
Iranians, including some living in other parts of the world, praised Bourdain on Twitter for capturing their country in a different light to the usual Western media reports and government rhetoric.
"All I can tell you is, the #Iran I've seen on TV & read about in the papers, it's a much bigger picture. Let's put it this way: It's complicated." Thank you for dedicating your life to understanding & shedding light on the "complicated" parts of our world. RIP, Anthony Bourdain. pic.twitter.com/H13Lawy2L8 — Reza H. Akbari (@rezahakbari) June 8, 2018
Among all the cities and countries he introduced Americans to, Anthony Bourdain visited two places that make up large parts of who I am - Iran and Armenia. He approached them, and everywhere, with empathy, curiosity and just all around genuine humanity — Liana Aghajanian (@LianaAgh) June 8, 2018
Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza
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Bourdain's trip to Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza in 2013 was perhaps his most contentious. And he knew it would be.
He opened that episode with a disclaimer : "By the end of this hour, I'll be seen by many as a terrorist sympathizer, a Zionist tool, a self-hating Jew, an apologist for American imperialism, an Orientalist, socialist, a fascist, CIA agent, and worse."
In his description of the area, he said: "It's easily the most contentious piece of real estate in the world, and there's no hope -- none -- of ever talking about it without pissing somebody, if not everybody, off."
Anthony Bourdain walks through Gaza City's fish market.
Nonetheless, Bourdain set out to discover the questions of where felafel comes from and who makes the best hummus. While that was his culinary mission, the episode unraveled as a thoughtful exploration of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"We all bring stuff along when we travel -- your preconceptions, your personal belief system, the full weight of your life experience," he said. "It's going to come to bear on the way you experience a place. But whatever you may think, and whatever baggage you may bring to this place, you should see this."
Much praise for Bourdain came over his attention to Palestinians in that episode, as well as his words of support for the Palestinain people.
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Diana Buttu, a Palestinian-Canadian human rights lawyer who has worked on the peace process, tweeted a quote by Bourdain Friday after news of his death: "The world has visited many terrible things on the Palestinian people, none more shameful than robbing them of their basic humanity." It was part of an acceptance speech Bourdain gave for a Muslim Public Affairs Council award in 2014
Buttu told CNN that she appreciated the way Bourdain saw the Palestinians as people, rather than mere numbers in a conflict.
"It was very refreshing when Bourdain came here. It was very revealing that after the segment aired and when he talked about Palestinians that he made sure to mention the issue of dehumanization, that Palestinians had been deprived of their humanity," Buttu told CNN.
"He saw Palestinians as human beings -- it's sad we have to say this in this day and age, that someone saw us as human beings, but he did and that for me was very powerful."
"He not only loved food but all of the things that surround food -- love, humanity culture, tradition. It was powerful because he was bringing his love and passion for food and coupled it with the story about Palestinian deprivation."
Anthony Bourdain, whose darkly funny memoir about life in New York City restaurant kitchens made him a celebrity chef and touched off his second career as a journalist, food expert and social activist, was found dead on Friday in his hotel room in France. He was 61.
His death was being treated as a suicide. Christian de Rocquigny du Fayel, the prosecutor for the city of Colmar, in the Alsace region near where Mr. Bourdain was found, said the death was by hanging. “At this stage, we have no reason to suspect foul play,” he said.
Mr. Bourdain’s lasting work was not in American kitchens; it was on television, where he ate noodles in Hanoi with President Barack Obama, sucked on soft-boiled turtle eggs at a market stall in Colombia, and stopped to appreciate handmade spring rolls in Cambodia en route to interview a member of the opposition government.
In his 2001 memoir, “Kitchen Confidential,” Mr. Bourdain introduced a thrillingly profane, aggressively truthful voice that translated effortlessly to the screen, where he proved that he would eat anything, go anywhere and say anything on camera. His early public persona — the macho, unrepentant, drug-loving chef — evolved into that of a clear-eyed crusader for global food justice.
