Explosive biography sheds light on Anthony Bourdain’s final days

Asia Argento texted Anthony Bourdain telling him to stop ‘busting her balls’ in her final message hours before he killed himself, an explosive new biography claims. It was after complaining of his ‘possessiveness’ and breaking up with him when he complained that she’d been photographed flirting with a movie director at a hotel where they shared special memories.

The texts are now revealed in Down and Out in Paradise: The Life of Anthony Bourdain, a new biography about Bourdain and the first ‘unauthorized’ book since his death, which both Argento and the chef’s brother have tried to stop.

Bourdain ended his life in a French hotel room in 2018 while filming on location for his hit CNN show Parts Unknown. The public outpouring of sympathy for the TV star was sizable; his fans celebrated how he’d overcome addiction to launch a successful career, and hailed his unpretentious, down to earth nature. Pictured: The Le Chambard Hotel in Kaysersberg-Vignoble, France, where Bourdain ended his life in June 2018. 

The book challenges that picture of Bourdain as the people’s hero. It claims he was hooked on steroids, drinking heavily and paying for sexual relations. In one text to his ex-wife, Ottavia Busia-Bourdain (pictured), he complained: ‘I hate my fans, too. I hate being famous. I hate my job. I am lonely and living in constant uncertainty.’

The biography, according to The New York Times, claims that Argento (pictured) ‘became so controlling that she scrutinized the social media accounts of Mr. Bourdain and his wife, blowing up when she saw images of him with his family.’

‘You didn’t want me to put a pic that you had in it because Asia would freak out and I have a feeling that will not change anytime soon. I’m tired of pretending I don’t know you. Or that we are never in the same place,’ Busia-Bourdain told him. Pictured: Bourdain holds his daughter, Ariane, whom he shares with Ottavia, in Miami, Florida, on November 12, 2008. 

He replied: ‘I feel you. But I was being honest. The pap [arazzi] situation is horrendous. Since I left you guys, though, she’s freaking out.’

Bourdain’s family and Asia Argento have already challenged the book, accusing Leershen of multiple inaccuracies. However, Simon and Schuster is standing by it. The book will be published on October 11. Bourdain had spent the last two years of his life ‘hopelessly in love’ with Argento. Pictured: Bourdain and Argento in New York City on November 12, 2018. 

He defended her publicly and privately, quietly paying off Jimmy Bennett, a man who demanded $3.5 million from her, claiming she had assaulted him when he was 17 and she was 37. Bourdain (pictured in 2017) also came forward after seeing Argento speak publicly about being one of Harvey Weinstein’s victims.

Argento told The New York Times that the biography was inaccurate. In an email to the journalist that she says she forbid him from publishing, she said: ‘It is always Judas who writes the biography.’ Pictured: Asia Argento, who says the pain for Bourdain ‘never passes’.

Bourdain’s brother Christopher also tried to stop the book from being published. ‘Every single thing he writes about relationships and interactions within our family as kids and as adults he fabricated or got totally wrong,’ he told The Times. Pictured: Bourdain while filming Roadrunner. 

Leershen claims he is being met with resistance because the portrait he paints of Bourdain is unflattering. ‘A lot of people were willing to talk to me because they were left behind by Tony and by the Tony train,’ he said. Pictured: Anthony Bourdain and Asia Argento in a photo shared to his Instagram. 

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