Anthony Bourdain’s Daughter’s Reaction to His Suicide Is Heartbreaking

In a recent piece for GQ, one of Anthony Bourdain’s close friends reveals how the late celebrity chef’s daughter reacted to her father’s suicide. Six months after Bourdain took his own life, Doug Quint recalls the heartbreaking question that 11-year-old Ariane asked him on the night of the tragic event.

“Ariane said to me something like, ‘Is this something that people outside of New York are gonna know about?’ And we were like, ‘Yeah. All around the world, people are sad about this,'” says Quint, co-owner of Big Gay Ice Cream. “Telling her that made me realize, Jesus, God, this is world news. He changed lives around the world.”

While the 61-year-old Parts Unknown host may have had many fans, the one he seemed to care most about was his daughter, whom he shared with estranged wife Ottavia Busia. In his book Appetites, Bourdain wrote, “I am now genetically, instinctually compelled to care more about someone other than myself. I like being a father. No, I love being a father. Everything about it.”

Quint confirms that Ariane shared a close relationship with her father, describing one of his favorite memories of the duo to GQ: “Ottavia took her phone and cued up ‘Call Me Maybe,’ and Ariane came out from behind the wall and lip-synched and acted the whole thing out,” he reminisces, noting that Ariane was five years old at the time. “I remember looking over at Tony, and he just stared at her with this look on his face like, just he was seeing perfection and couldn’t believe it had come out of him, you know? It’s exactly what you want to see in a parent’s eyes when they look at their kid.”