Asia Argento really is/was an evil cunt

I miss that man so much.

He had enough money to step away forever from the celebrity and fans he hated and live a private life, but he was too depressed to figure that out or care enough to make the effort.

I was shocked at how many people were so obsessed about Bourdain, and I pretty much just keep my mouth shut about him anywhere but here, where at least I'm not the only one who wasn't really impressed with him.

If Asia was causing him turmoil, he could have easily ruined her life. Easily. There was no reason for him to go hang himself in a fit of pique about it. I know I'm supposed to have the sads about how his life ended, but it just irritates me.

His biggest mistake was getting involved with her. But, he was already feeling a captive of the "celebrity" lifestyle he had created for himself. He was much happier when he was just a chef. Make no mistake, the man had demons even then, before the book Kitchen Confidential.

He was talented, but a God, he wasn't. He wasn't a hero. I'm sorry he felt the need to take his life, when he child and estranged wife obviously loved him.

He seems to have had even more serious issues than known. And it can’t have helped that he had an ex-wife who clearly sold access to his emails and texts to this author.

I did not know until reading today’s coverage that his career came about because his mother worked at the NYT and passed an article by him to the New Yorker. Another nepo baby.

[quote]“I hate my fans, too. I hate being famous. I hate my job,”

Good lord. I remember when it happened and I said to my partner that I was surprised Bourdain killed himself, because I thought his ego would have prevented him from doing something like that, and my partner said he wasn't surprised at all, that Bourdain always came across to him as a whiny guy who would kill himself if something didn't go his way.

[quote]In his final exchange with Argento, Bourdain wrote, “Is there anything I can do?,” to which the actor replied, “Stop busting my balls.” The celebrity food writer responded with a simple, “OK,” and hanged himself later that day.

[quote]The book also reports that Bourdain paid $380,000 to musician-actor Jimmy Bennett, who claimed that he’d had a sexual relationship with Argento when she was 37 and he was still a minor at 17. Bennett, according to the book, had sought $3.5 million.

Bourdain was a stupid, stupid man.

He sounds like a cuck. Seemingly killing himself over that fucking PUTTANA LORDA?!?! It angers me.

He sounds like an asshole. They deserved each other

That documentary (the name escapes me) from a few years ago was extremely compelling and I had never even seen his show or been a fan.

I believe that he was severely bipolar or depressed ( Clearly obvious, however) Probably far more than anyone knew...

His ex wife seems like a very cool lady, while Asia gave me bad vibes from the first second of that doc.

The people in his life REALLY loved him, that was clear from their interviews.

I want a tribunal on everyone who uses the term “nepo baby.” Wow - this person has connections? Who gives a fuck? Most people get jobs because of arbitrary connections, not just the rich and famous.

He was on a trip with his best friend of many years, Eric Ripert. A cruel thing to do to someone so close to you. He should have waited so his friend wouldn’t have been the one to find him.

He was a complete dick for that. And his daughter too. What an asshole. Over a woman.

She is a good person. She has no control over what Anthony Bourdain did. The only person whose decisions she can control is her own. People need to quit blaming her for what he did.

R14 Right. At some enchantingly rustic chateau in the south of France I think, too. Just another Tuesday for two industry heavy-hitters such as they but still, why sour the trip by traumatizing your best friend? Leave the trip on a memorable note for them and do it in Manhattan so the welfare check finds you. When I think about those details, I almost wouldn’t doubt if auto-asphyxiation was involved. It just seems so…cruel.

Whoa wait.. Eric Ripert found him??

Jesus Christ.

R17 Big time

"have the sads"

R3 Let's speak like an adult

Guy Fieri is about enjoying greasy, salty, spicy food and making money about it. Bourdain is about snobbery, ranging from worshipping at the temple of Thomas Keller to declaring some greasy spoon to have the best BLT in the world. His favorite pasttime was sitting around a table with other men, and food gave him a pretext to do that for a career. Repressed gay who played the role of Asia Argento's wife. In ten years, there will be a reappraisal of his work and his reputation will be revised downward..

Are Asia's PR flacks in here? I don't think she should be blamed for his death, but she is a vile, vile cunt.

I still think it was autoerotic asphyxiation, due to the reasons cited as him being on vacation with a close friend.

R20 You should be about learning English

I also think it was auto erotic asphyxiation, and no one is ever responsible for someone else's suicide. The only person responsible for suicide is the suicider. Emotional manipulation by threatening suicide is evil, manipulative, and cruel.

Hope he came buckets. There are worse ways to die. I think it was accidental. I don't think he'd have chosen Ripert to find his body. Who knows. I don't think there was a note.

I didn’t read the article, but the DM said he distanced himself from his daughter. So that’s totally on him.

What was his deal with Argento? What a random pairing. I am going to google it, but I am certain to get a lot of BS from the grand old internet, so I appreciate any honest DL broad strokes about the two- how they met, how bad it was, etc...

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

Wow, shitty to "vanish" from his daughter's life. That info must have come from the ex-wife / mother of his daughter.

His estate was $1.2 million only? That's crazy. He really couldn't afford to pay off the minor who came after Asia Argento.

Asia was always a mess.

Argento needs to stick to her cheese business.

Other than hearing his name in passing I had no idea who he was until I read Patrick Radden Keefe’s essay collection about him in his new collection Rogues. It’s quite a positive piece, and on some levels he seems likable, but it’s also clear that there were hardly any times when he wasn’t fucked up one thing or another. It sounds like doing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu each day was the only moments of peace he found in mind or body. His risk taking and arrogant disregard for the rules seem all part of a troubled mind and suicide fits easily within that framework and should not have been a shock to anyone who knew him.

Are we at the canonization stage already?

Ottavia wasn't his ex wife. They were separated.

I didn’t know he died from auto erotic asphyxiation. Interesting.

In OP’s pic, Anthony really has PTSD eyes

All the pain and weariness from unresolved traumas

I love ‘have the sads’ : so descriptive

From this guy to Diana society surely love to beatified mentally dead celebrities all "suffered" due to their own making and bad choices.

😂

"What was his deal with Argento?"

If you see his last series episode on Rome, you can see their romance play out on the screen.

I was wondering why she was all over the episode, but then I found out about their relationship.

I forgot about his realtionship with Rippert. They were so cute together. On one episode Rippert got Bourdain to agree to invest in a specialty chocolate company that was supposed to provide funds for the local South American chocolate growers and keep developers from clearing the cacao trees.

R35, those aren't PTSD eyes. These are PTSD eyes.

R39 that episode made me want to reach the screen, grab him by the shoulders, shake him and shout RUN!!!! That woman always has been and always will be bad juujuu.

I always enjoyed his show, and learned a lot. But I never got the sense that this is a man content with his life, nor someone who is probably all that generally nice (though I'm sure he had his moments, as a lot who knew him did seem to love him). What I've always found weird is the cult of personality build around him, that only got crazier with his tragic death. So many cults of personality these days...always makes me weary, even if I like the person.

R13 and R16

He was suicidally depressed, which means he wasn't thinking straight and probably unable to execute what you think was a socially acceptable suicide.

R34

He didn't. That's just a theory being floated here.

R42 I feel the same. I liked his show because I love travel and he went to a lot of places I've never been. I felt sometimes he focused too much on trying to be an "anti-tourist" to prove "how real" he was. Some of the food he raved about looked good, other times it seemed quite disgusting. He had an interesting personality and some intelligence to him when it came to analyzing the place he was visiting. I too think he was so depressed that off-camera he probably wasn't that nice. I always wonder about the types who say "I hate my fans, I hate being famous" etc. He was at the point where he could have retired from the limelight and the show to live the rest of his life quietly. It's sad he decided to kill himself but it's no one's fault except his own.

I am totally with you in not understanding the personality cult devoted to him since his death. CNN really has gone out of its way to keep airing both his show and other programs about him every few months which is odd to me.

R6 that's a truly surface-level take on Bourdains career. Maybe his mom helped him get a book published 20 years ago but his mom didn't personally make millions of people buy the book and she didn't make millions of people watch his shows and buy his other books for 15+ years. It's fine if you're disappointed with your own life but let's not bullshit and pretend Bourdain was Willow Smith.

Such a pity to see this, the man clearly suffered from depression. He’s long dead and buried now, i really don’t want to think about his last texts.

I first saw Bourdain on a PBS show about Typhoid Mary, who he had written a book about, and he was really interesting. I was excited when I heard he was doing a travel food show, but about three episodes in, I'd had enough. He's eating food plenty of other people native to those regions had eaten for generations, but acting like he was cool and better than you for it. Or he'd go to Iceland and just be a dick to everyone for no reason.

Another emotional vampire hetero male killed himself in a temper tantrum after a woman refused to make him feel whatever way he thought he ought.

Another pile of whiney hetero men have scrambled to point the finger at whichever woman he spoke to last, and compete to see which one of them can yell "cunt" the loudest.

If your heros keep killing themselves, it may be time to reflect.

R46

Yes, he wrote a great article that attracted attention and put him on the road to opportunities. But not everyone has a mother who can hand a manuscript to the wife of the editor of The New Yorker. That helped a lot. No one, at least not I, is saying he was untalented, but these connections matter.

What were his writing credentials?

I remember an episode where he was in some market in Eastern Europe. These two old fishwives started saying crazy sexual things to him. I think they were slurring his sexual potency. It was actually funny but he seemed genuinely hurt and upset. I realized how insecure he was about his masculinity. It was weird they didn’t edit it out.

R51

I think he just wrote a great article that grabbed the reader and revealed a world unknown to most. I believe he went to Vassar but dropped out and/or didn't do very well. David Remnick's wife, Esther Fein, to whom Bourdain's mother showed the article, is an experienced and talented journalist and was at the New York Times. She wouldn't have shown it to her husband had she not been impressed by it.

My first impressions of Bourdain must have been his first food/travel series. It was interesting to a point but too much centered on a man whose main quality seemed to be being off-puttingly self-absorbed and too pleased with himself.

At some point I started watching again and his persona had changed, he had learned to step back a little, to laugh a little at his self absorption, and to make his program something more than just tasting food and trying to find a new way each time to look surprised and delighted (or maybe a little horrified.) A little humility and reflection made him good, and made him chase after something more essential about travel and food. If his waxing about these matters got off path from time to time, it was easily forgiven. Even the "greatest job in the world" takes some work to keep it fresh, to distinguish Portugal from Palestine.

Sometimes he hit it right, and very right. One of my favorite episodes (Parts Unknown, Season 2) is set in Granada where his American camera man has taken up residence to marry into a Spanish family and life.

He was obviously a man who battled addictions and ego and depression. He could be a jackass or a prince it seemed, and good luck predicting which on the day. He found a great gig for which he was perfectly suited with imperfect results. I can appreciate his work for sometimes showing the joy of travel and discovery and food, without having to approve or disapprove of everything else in his life. In the end I have a fondness for him and some of his work at its most insightful and affectionate, and some sadness for what what he showed of human faults and failings. For me there's no more than that to it, no pleasure in declaring him a saint nor an asshole.

r23, That was a typo and I cringed when I realized it made it into my post. I hoped no one would notice but, of course, you did because pointing out small errors makes you a big man. Just not a witty or generous one.

r49 He should have let that female pederast of a wife rot in jail; nobody normal lusts after people you met in your 20s when they were 10! She should've been the one to pull the trigger - on herself, to be clear.

[quote] What were his writing credentials?

"Kitchen Confidential" was the book (he wrote) that put him on the map. It's an easy / interesting read, IMO.

R57

The article that his mother gave to Remick's wife was expanded into the book Kitchen Confidential. I believe R51 was asking what writing credentials Bourdain had before being published by The New Yorker. Some years ago, the Fiction editor of the magazine made a snide comment about how people who sent stories to the magazine were naive: they needed to be represented by an agent.

Asia Argento: "Stop busting my balls."

DL's new catch phrase.

How in the hell could you leave a kid like that? Even "distance" yourself? I know people do it, but one of my first thoughts after my son was born was "Well, I won't be checking out early" and I've never had suicidal thoughts.

R60 How lovely to turn this thread to yourself.

Are we sure he didn’t just have some pact with Kate Spade? I could see them as secret lovers.

I read his New Yorker article when it first came out and is gripping. No one had been writing about food and restaurants like this before:

Good food, good eating, is all about blood and organs, cruelty and decay. It’s about sodium-loaded pork fat, stinky triple-cream cheeses, the tender thymus glands and distended livers of young animals. It’s about danger—risking the dark, bacterial forces of beef, chicken, cheese, and shellfish. Your first two hundred and seven Wellfleet oysters may transport you to a state of rapture, but your two hundred and eighth may send you to bed with the sweats, chills, and vomits.

Kitchen Confidential is engrossing too with some personal details that make you worry about Bourdain's mental health. He did hard drugs every day all day. As his career took off into the stratosphere I hoped he was happier but he never looked like it.

I decided long ago never to walk in anyone's shadow.

^^ there you go, the original singer

I couldn't believe my eyes seeing this shit. Asia Argento posts "Stop busting my balls" to her Instagram story.

R65: OMG is that recent, in reaction to all the bad press caused by the book?

Yes, she just posted it today.

R68: thanks

This girl needs SERIOUS psychiatric help

Argento is a Supercunt.

Crying for help through laughter

Now why does she have her son dressed in a shirt saying "Misogynist" on it?

R72: that poor kid is *fucked*

Yeah, Argento is seriously fucked up, but considering her father not exactly a surprise. It does not excuse but explains.

Having said this, based on this transcript there is no way she can be even remotely to blame for his suicide (though the article tries the opposite).

Yeah, her father always had her in his movies doing nude scenes and rape scenes. Kind of a creepy relationship.

R49 You sound woke frau

Suggestion

Let him die. Stop trying to cash in 💰 on his legacy.

The superfans of this writer chef creep me out. When KC came out my self described foodie sister could not stop reading passages aloud to me. And then when I saw his show a few times and saw his Lou Reed cosplay- I was really turned off. Lou Reed was a horrible person, but he was original.

I believe the doc I saw on him painted him in a far kinder light than reality.

I do not believe they touched at all on him still heavily drinking...

His ex wife came across as really cool as well.

And that is exactly the vibe that I could not put into words- he definitely had the vibes of a long term alcoholic. Its the eyes and face, and unmistakable if you have known someone similar.

He was a very compelling personality, and I say this as a non fan.

I feel sorry for Asia Argento. People are going to bully her for the rest of her life because of Anthony Bourdain's suicide. If he really loved her as much as he said, he shouldn't have let that happen to her. She probably still hurts because of it to this day and now she still has to mourn his death as well as fight with the journalists and public. They completely wrecked her reputation and legacy and it's sad.

Bourdain was an adult, that’s on him, she should be bullied for sexually exploiting a minor.

I don’t get it, Asia is not especially attractive, intelligent, talented or interesting. What was the appeal to AB? Was he just stuck on Italian women?

R82 I think she is pretty and artsy and has an "I don't give a fuck" attitude. She lives her life the way she wants and doesn't give a damn what people think of her. Her eccentricity makes her a breath of fresh air. She isn't boring and plain like other people. She is unique.

This might be off topic but

Asia Argento

What a STUPID name.

So true, R83, so fresh, so novel, so cutting edge--just like us!

R45

In his first show, Bourdain wasn't shy about expressing disgust at certain food. In Parts Unknown, he never did that even when what he was eating seemed both gross and boring; the bar food in South Africa (deep-fried offal basically) seemed like something he would have balked at 15 years before. My impression is that PU was supposed to be more politically correct and sanitized for CNN's audience.

R82 and R86, I wonder if Bourdain saw in Argento something of what he would like to have remembered about his younger days, something more carefree, more "fuck the establishment, fuck you", can't ficking be bothered with politeness and norms of society and stars attached to restaurants and hotels. Whether his memory of his younger days when he could always have said, "fuck it, there are always jobs for dishwashers and sous chefs, I'm getting properly fucked up tonight."

I didn't like in him those hippie turned very successful stockbroker backwards looks through tinted glasses, a feeble attempt to rouse some old anarchist battle cry. Like a lot of people who start as slackers and misfits and end and expense account successes, he was probably never near so Johnny Rotten radical as he would like to remember. Argento, though, is less bourgeois and has a deep wild streak that I'm guessing delighted and horrified Bourdain. He could likely have landed more beautiful, more calm, more compatible, more stable, but he delighted in an unpredictable love affair with that wild crazy bitch (who cleans up well when she wants to) and might fuck you right there in the middle of a dining room (or another guy )

Damn, he was a hard looking 60. I'd have guessed 75.