Asia Argento had no clue about Anthony Bourdain's obsession with suicide, until she read about it
Asia Argento took to Twitter on Monday to confess that she had no idea about Anthony Bourdain's "obsession" with suicide.
The 42-year-old actress who was dating Bourdain at the time of his death re-tweeted an academic article by John E. Richters titled 'Anthony Bourdain's long-burning suicidal wick— in his own words' and wrote: "I never knew about this obsession of his. He never told me. Heart-wrenching read."
The article states the fact that Bourdain had mentioned suicide nearly 20 times during his various television appearances since 2000.
Argento had taken to Twitter immediately after Bourdain's death, speaking highly of the chef who died on June 8 by hanging himself in his hotel room at Kaysersberg, France.
She wrote: "Anthony gave all of himself in everything that he did. His brilliant, fearless spirit touched and inspired so many, and his generosity knew no bounds. He was my love, my rock, my protector. I am beyond devastated. My thoughts are with his family. I would ask that you respect their privacy and mine."
Hours before his death, the actress posted a picture on Instagram where she was seen wearing a t-shirt that read "F**k everyone" with a picture of Sid Vicious, captioning it as "You know who you are." She later deleted the post.
Her Monday's post received a lot of backlash from fans who mentioned the t-shirt claiming that if the post was not about Anthony then why had she deleted it in the first place. One of the fans commented: "May I ask (out of sincere curiosity) why you posted you with that Sid Vicious (F everyone) shirt (you knowing Anthony is known as the Sid Vicious of his field) and then say "you know who you are"?"
Argento said that comparing Bourdain to Sid was "ridiculous and dumb" and she had taken off the post two hours later when she found out that her lover was dead.
Bourdain met the Italian actress who held a prominent position in the #MeToo campaign during the filming of 'Parts Unknown' in 2016, and the two began dating a year later. The 42-year-old actress collaborated with Bourdain on his show, and also directed an episode which was set in Hong Kong. Bourdain has always spoken very highly of Argento. He had reportedly shown his support for the actress when she revealed in October 2017 to The New Yorker's Ronan Farrow that she was sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein in 1997. Bourdain tweeted saying, "I am proud and honoured to know you. You just did the hardest thing in the world."
In an interview with Popula which was published posthumously in July, Bourdain shared a tense moment he had with the woman who he was completely in love with. He shared, "The worst thing Asia ever said to me, she'd had a bad day, she was doing a play in uh, Turin? Somewhere in Italy. And she was rehearsing and she'd had a really bad day with the director. Dude, of course. And she comes home and she's f--king furious. And we're texting back and forth, cause we only argue by text. She's like, f--king angry. F--k you too! You always wanna win! You always wanna win!" He later confessed that he wasn't a competitive person, he just had to survive.
Argento was a victim of online bullying immediately following Bourdain's death as people blamed her for the tragic demise of the celebrated chef. However, in an open letter for an op-ed piece in the Los Angeles Times signed by several prominent members of the #MeToo campaign, including Rose McGowan, Rosanna Arquette, Terry Crews, Anthony Rapp and Mira Sorvino, Argento was defended for being on the receiving end of online bullying. It read: "Asia has now found herself on the receiving end of vicious cyberbullying and repulsive slander at the hands of internet trolls who hold her responsible for Anthony’s death. She has been accused of everything from causing her boyfriend’s suicide to trying to use her “survivor status” and the #MeToo movement to advance her career...Asia is not a headline — she is a human being, and she is in horrific pain."
Argento had shared a few pics of her and Bourdain two weeks after his death on Instagram. In the picture, she is seen with Bourdain soaking up the bright sunlight on a beach. She captioned it as: "Two weeks without you."