The ex-wife of Anthony Bourdain posted a photo of their 11-year-old daughter Ariane performing at a concert over the weekend, just days after the death of her father.
‘Our little girl had her concert today. She was amazing. So strong and brave. She wore the boots you bought her. I hope you are having a good trip, wherever you are,’ wrote Ottavia Busia.
In the photo, Ariane could be seen singing into a microphone as she stood in front of her band wearing a pair of black platform boots with studs and spikes.
Bourdain, 61, was found hanged in his hotel room on Friday morning by his good friend and fellow chef Eric Ripert.
He had been in Kaysersberg, France shooting an episode of his popular CNN series Parts Unknown at the time, and French authorities have said that the death was a suicide.
Shining star: Anthony Bourdain’s ex-wife Ottavia Busia posted a photo of their 11-year-old daughter Ariana performing at a concert over the weekend (above)
Family: ‘Our little girl had her concert today. She was amazing. So strong and brave. She wore the boots you bought her,’ wrote Busia (Bourdain, Busia and Ariane in 2016 just after the couple divorced)
Today also spoke with Bourdain’s mother Gladys on Monday, who revealed that she last spoke with her son on Mother’s Day.
The 81-year-old editor at The New York Times said that Bourdain seemed fine at the time, and she described her son as ‘feisty, and very talented.’
Gladys also said that Bourdain was ‘a lover of people of all kinds.’
She had previously told the New York Post that her son’s body was being held up in France due to red tape, and that Busia was handling everything at this time.
Busia and Bourdain divorced in 2016 after nine years of marriage but remained close, and his ex-wife is handling funeral arrangements and the process of retrieving the chef’s body from France.
Bourdain seemed fine the last time he spoke to his mother Gladys (above), who said her son was ‘feisty, and very talented.
Busia and Ariane also stand to inherit a bulk of the celebrity chef’s estate.
Bourdain opened up about his relationship with Busia in a 2016 interview with The New Yorker.
He was interviewed for the story while shooting the now-famous episode of his CNN series Parts Unknown in Hanoi, Vietnam with President Barack Obama.
There is a good deal of talk about how difficult it was for Bourdain to maintain a relationship because he was always away and working on the show.
Then, in an email to the writer of the story a few months after the interview, he said the the two were calling it quits, writing: ‘It’s not much of a change of lifestyle, as we have lived separate lives for many years. More of a change of address.’
He went on to write, jokingly: ‘She’s an interesting woman. I admire her choices. But I married Sophia Loren. She turned into Jean-Claude Van Damme.’
Bourdain also wrote that he was happy the couple no longer had to ‘pretend.’
The two were set up by Eric Ripert, who employed Ottavia at his restaurant Le Bernardin in New York City.
It was also Ripert who discovered the body of Bourdain last Friday in France.
Tender moment: Busia is currently handling Bourdain’s funeral arrangements and the process of getting his body back to the United States from France (Bourdain and Ariane in 2016)
Longtime friends: Bourdain was discovered dead in his hotel room on Friday morning by chef and friend Eric Ripert, who first introduced him to Busia (Bourdain and Ripert in 2014)
Bourdain said that he never saw himself as a father but the two decided after some time together to give it a try, and Ottavia was soon pregnant.
The same year that they were married the couple welcomed daughter Ariane.
‘I’m shocked by how happy my daughter is. I don’t think I’m deluding myself. I know I’m a loving father,’ said Bourdain in that interview.
He then added however: ‘Do I wish sometimes that, in an alternative universe, I could be the patriarch, always there? Tons of kids? Grandkids running around? Yes. And it looks good to me. But I’m pretty sure I’m incapable of it.’
He was dating actress Asia Argento at the time of his death, and had been married to Nancy Putkoski for 20 years prior to Busia.
For confidential help, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255
For confidential support on suicide matters in the UK, call the Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90 or visit a local Samaritans branch
For confidential support in Australia, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14