Who Is Anthony Bourdain's Ex-Wife? New Details About Ottavia Busia
Bourdain was married twice.
Getty Who is Anthony Bourdain's ex-wife? CNN confirmed Friday morning that famed chef Anthony Bourdain,61, was found dead in his hotel room from an apparent suicide.
"It is with extraordinary sadness we can confirm the death of our friend and colleague, Anthony Bourdain," the network said in a statement. "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."
The Parts Unknown host is survived by his daughter, Ariane, and his two ex-wives, Nancy Putkoski and Ottavia Busia.
Neither ex-wife has commented on his death.
Bourdain married Nancy Putkoski, his high school sweetheart, in 1985 after dating for several years. After 20 years of marriage, the two called it quits in 2005, blaming their separation on distance.
According to Heightline, Bourdain has since referred to Putkoski as the 'love of his life.'
Two years after his divorce from Putkoski, the chef and TV personality entered his second marriage.
In 2007, Bourdain married MMA fighter Ottavia Busia after just weeks of dating.
The lovebirds quickly got matching chef’s knives tattooed on their bodies.
They were introduced by Eric Ripert, Bourdain’s close friend and chef, whom Busia met when she began working in the restaurant industry, People reports.
Busia told MarriedToAChef.com that cooking “brought us together.”
“Working in the restaurant business was definitely what brought us together,” she said. “We used to meet after my shift was over and we would stay up for hours drinking beers, talking about my day at work. Anybody else would have been bored to death, or horrified, but for him it was enjoyable and it would bring back memories of his days in the business.”
Within a year of marriage, Bourdain and Busia had their daughter, Ariane.
Over the course of their 9-year marriage, distance yet again tore Bourdain from his wife.
Busia told The Miami Times that Bourdain was basically only home for the holidays and that “my husband’s insane schedule” was very hard on her.
“The holidays are the only times when he’s home,” she told MarriedToAChef.com. “I remember once waking up in the middle of the night terrified because someone was in my bed. That someone was my husband, I had just forgotten that he was home.”
According to the chef, he was away from Busia 250 days out of the year.
“As a marriage, clearly it’s not ideal but there’s no injured party here, nobody’s angry, nobody feels like the injured party, nobody feels like a victim. So we’ll proceed like that,” he told People at the time.
Bourdain and Busia mutually decided to call it quits on their marriage in 2016.
Bourdain told People at the time that there were no hard feelings about the divorce from either party. "My wife and I live, have lived, very separate lives for years,” he said. “There’s no drama here. We get along really, really well and it’s not a big lifestyle change happening here.”
After their split, the pair focused on raising their daughter as best they could despite the divorce.
“As a family, I think we’ve done a really good job and we’re doing a really good job and would like to keep it that way,” he said.
Anthony Bourdain will live on through his culinary achievements. Although neither of his ex-wives has spoken publicly about his death, we can only assume they are mourning the loss of a dear friend.
If you or a loved one need help, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
Sarah Gangraw is a travel-addicted cat lady who lives on black coffee and cheese. She went to college in Australia, graduated from the University of Central Florida, and writes about all things news and crime. You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter — she's occasionally funny.