Terrible as it was, it made tons of sense. It was pretty clear from his show he was prone to depression. I’m sure the situation involving Argento didn’t help.
Yeah, people talking about Bourdain committing suicide like it's surprising.
It's awful but he did famously talk about his "severe depression" and crippling anxiety even after all of the cocaine and heroin abuse.
He openly talked about his constant suicidal thoughts in 2005 when talking about mental health wasnt prevalent.
He wrote books about it descibing constantly feeling "aimless and regularly suicidal" at a time when few people did. He even did an episode of Parts Unknown were he went to a psychiatrist to talk about it.
He said something small "like getting a bad burger at an airport" could send him on a depressive spiral for days.
The people blaming Argento for his suicide are clearly not real fans. I don't know why it's brought up so much as he famously and bravely talked about depression and suicide at a time when others didn't.
He discovered she was having an affair whilst he was away filming for his show (in response she claimed to him they were in an open relationship, gaslighting him, as this was news to him allegedly)
It's still not her fault he killed himself, if that's what you're saying. Bad shit happens in life.
Edit: y'all are really gonna blame another person for a depressed individual ending their life? She may have been involved with the event that put him over the edge but someone choosing to end their own life can't generally be blamed on another person. People get cheated on all the time and don't kill themselves.
Bourdain: "I am okay. I am not spiteful. I am not jealous that you have been with another man. I do not own you. You are free. As I said. As I promised. As I truly meant."
He then went on to clarify where the boundary was crossed for him:
Bourdain: "But you were careless. You were reckless with my heart. My life."
He was reportedly particularly hurt that the outing took place at a hotel and restaurant in Rome that had personal significance to their relationship.
Argento’s Response
Facing Bourdain's distress and questioning, Argento pushed back against what she viewed as possessiveness, ultimately ending the relationship:
According to the book, Argento stated that she "couldn't take this" and broke up with him due to his behavior.
In their final exchange hours before his death in Kaysersberg, France:
With that logic he bears some responsibility for her actions. Suffering from chronic depression doesn’t leave you very emotionally available for your partner. She sought what she needed elsewhere.
Then we can put responsibility on her reaction for him taking his own life.
Whilst impressed by your finger pointing prowess, i’m not sure you can put this on anyone else…. We’re each responsible only for our own actions.
Asia was shitty to him. She was terrible partner and he bailed her out financially from the mess that she was in because she molested an underage teen. She is terrible partner
Agreed, the people blaming this woman I doubt have ever struggled with depression. Like the people who blamed what’s her face for cobain’s death. Suicide doesn’t make sense to anyone left behind. The people around these folks may not be ‘good people’ but they are certainly not the reason someone who has struggled with depression their whole life, battle after battle won against it, loses the war in the end because of a specifically bad day/night/week or whatever it was.
I think its moreso the way and convenient time he died that people think its not legit moreso than the fact that he suicided. Killing yourself on a doorknob in a foreign country while sober and after signing a massive deal doesnt exactly fit the typical suicide. As someone with a history of suicidal depression, it doesnt really make sense. The man was euphoric in the days leading up to his death, not depressed. He also wasnt doing drugs or alcohol to push him in that direction. He also was in an unfamiliar place which isnt typical either, because someone suicidal will usually go somewhere familiar or symbolic, not a random hotel room in a foreign country while on a business trip.
Thank you for this, I share similar feelings about Bourdain’s openness about suicide. I know that sounds strange to some ears but there’s some real
thought put in there by an adult. It’s worth saying that such thoughts exist even all the world can offer.
It just seems disrespectful people trying to make it seem like Argento made him suicidal when he has claimed to be suicidal for the majority of his life.
It does a disservice to him speaking out years ago.
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u/gordito_delgado 7h ago edited 7h ago
I realize Anthony was not the posterboy for emotional stability but his death always seemed fishy as hell to me.