Anthony Bourdain found happiness with girlfriend Asia Argento before he died at the age of 61 in June 2018.
“Just a perfect day. You made me forget myself,” the Kitchen Confidential author captioned an April 2018 Instagram selfie with the Land of the Dead actress. The duo met in 2016 while Bourdain was filming an episode of his show Parts Unknown in Italy. The New York native supported the filmmaker when she came forward with sexual assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein in October 2017.
“@AsiaArgento I am proud and honored to know you. You just did the hardest thing in the world. Can we use the word ‘rapist’ now? #Weinstein,” Bourdain wrote via Twitter at the time.
After the celebrity chef died by suicide, Argento spoke out about her grief and the public perception that she had contributed to his death.
“People say I murdered him. They say I killed him,” she said during a September 2018 interview with the Daily Mail. “I understand that the world needs to find a reason. I would like to find a reason too. I don’t have it. Maybe I would feel some solace in thinking there was something that happened.”
The Italy native condemned internet trolls who speculated that her being unfaithful to Bourdain drove him to suicide.
“People need to think that he killed himself for something like this? He had cheated on me too. It wasn’t a problem for us,” she said at the time. “He was a man who traveled 265 days a year. When we saw each other, we took really great pleasure in each other’s company. But we are not children. We are grown-ups.”
The Travel Channel personality’s alleged final text messages to Argento were revealed in September 2022 ahead of the release of his unauthorized biography by Charles Leerhsen.
“You were reckless with my heart,” the book claims Bourdain texted the Italian Golden Globe winner, according to an excerpt published by People.
While the Last Days actress did not confirm that her late boyfriend had sent her that message, she condemned Leerhsen’s work.
“I wrote clearly to this man that he could not publish anything I said to him,” she said in a September 2022 statement to the New York Times, noting that she had not read the literary work.
Both Bourdain and Argento have children from previous relationships. The travel documentarian was dad to Ariane, 15, with ex-wife Ottavia Busia. The Marie Antoinette actress shares Anna Lou, 21, with musician Morgan and Nicola, 14, with her ex-husband, Michele Civetta.
If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or considering suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
Scroll through for a look back at Bourdain and Argento’s relationship:
