What’s so controversial about the new Anthony Bourdain book? Plenty, it turns out
A new biography about the late chef and TV personality Anthony Bourdain, who took his own life while filming CNN’s “Parts Unknown” in 2018, has been raising hackles well in advance of its Oct. 11 publication date — especially among those who knew Bourdain best.
The Times dipped into “Down and Out in Paradise: The Life of Anthony Bourdain,” by Charles Leerhsen, to break down what’s making some relatives and friends of the Emmy winner cringe.
Bourdain’s brother, Christopher, has called the book “hurtful and defamatory fiction.” However, in an email sent last week to The Times, Leerhsen said other Bourdain family and friends with advance copies “have confirmed that my take on the Bourdain family dynamic is accurate.”
But first, a word of warning: Leerhsen relies on many confidential sources and quotes some people, including
