Famous cooking show host and Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner Anthony Bourdain had died. He was 61 years old. The death was due to suicide.
According to a statement from CNN:
It is with extraordinary sadness we can confirm the death of our friend and colleague, Anthony Bourdain. His love of great adventure, new friends, fine food and drink and the remarkable stories of the world made him a unique storyteller. His talents never ceased to amaze us and we will miss him very much. Our thoughts and prayers are with his daughter and family at this incredibly difficult time.
Anthony Bourdain was in France working on an upcoming episode of his show, Parts Unknown.
Bourdain became one of Brazilian jiu-jitsu’s celebrity ambassadors, promoting the art in numerous interviews. Though once a heavy drinker, smoker, and drug user, Brazilian jiu-jitsu helped Anthony Bourdain get into amazing shape.
We here at the Jiu-Jitsu Times mourn the death of a great celebrity and Brazilian jiu-jitsu enthusiast. We will add more to this story as the information becomes available.
This man was a personal hero of mine since childhood. Long before i even knew anything about martial arts let alone BJJ. Finding out that he trained was a small reason on my list to keep up with training…so that if i ever got the chance to meet him(no kidding one of my personal dreams) we’d have something to talk about or maybe roll haha. His life and the shows he made inspired me to make something of myself. So that i could see and experience the things he saw. May he rest in peace