‘It’s always Judas who writes the biography’: Anthony Bourdain’s ex Asia Argento uses Oscar Wilde quote to describe her reaction to bombshell biography as his brother rails against the book’s release

• Asia Argento, who was Anthony Bourdain’s last girlfriend before his death, has slammed the release of an upcoming biography on her former partner
• Argento quoted Oscar Wilde, saying ‘It’s always Judas who writes the biography’ when asked about her feelings on the book
• She has previously expressed anger and frustration over private conversations and messages between the couple being revealed to the world 
• A conversation between Argento and Bourdain that took place the night before his suicide is included in the book, ‘Down and Out In Paradise’
• Bourdain took his own life in a Paris hotel room in June 2018 

The girlfriend of Anthony Bourdain at the time of his death is fiercely against the release of a biography detailing the darkest moments from the man’s life.

Charles Leerhsen’s ‘Down and Out In Paradise: The Life of Anthony Bourdain’ has garnered praise from many outlets for its pursuit of the truth on what led the chef and TV host to commit suicide in 2018. 

The book, released on October 11, includes bombshell information not previously reported and texts between the couple leading up to Bourdain’s death. 

Leerhsen reached out to Argento while writing the book and received a scathing reply in an email, according to the book. 

‘It is always Judas who writes the biography,’ Argento told the biographer. 

Asia Argento, Anthony Bourdain’s girlfriend at the time of his death, slammed the release of the unauthorized documentary detailing the darker moments of his life 

Bourdain hung himself in a Paris hotel room in June 2018 after arguing with Argento over an alleged affair she was having 

The author describes Bourdain’s relationship with Asia Argento as a ‘classic adolescent case of the boy wanting the girl more than the girl wants to be wanted’ 

The Italian actor is named publicly in the acknowledgements as a source who ‘did not mind being named.’ 

Argento, however, later told The New York Times that she explicitly stated he could not share anything publicly that she told him via email correspondence. 

She said she ‘wrote clearly to this man that he could not publish anything I said to him. 

Down And Out In Paradise: The Life of Anthony Bourdain will be released on October 11

The actor and Italian ‘X Factor’ host also told the New York Times that she has not read the book. 

The controversial biography at times frames relationship discord with the actor as one of the major factors leading up to Bourdain’s suicide. 

Days before he took his own life, texts showed that the couple were fighting over an affair Argento was said to be having with journalist Hugo Clément. 

‘I am okay,’ Bourdain said in messages shared in the book. ‘I am not spiteful. I am not jealous that you have been with another man. I do not own you. You are free. As I said. As I promised. As I truly meant.’ 

What did appear to bother the chef was that the affair was taking place at a Rome hotel close to the couple’s heart. 

‘But you were careless. You were reckless with my heart. My life.’ 

Argento responded, ‘I can’t take this.’ The actor then told Bourdain that she did not like how possessive he was of her and that their time together was over. 

Bourdain responded, ‘Is there anything I can do?’ To which Argento said, ‘Stop busting my balls.’

Bourdain replied simply, ‘OK.’

Mere hours later, he took his own life by hanging. 

Anthony Bourdain, photographed days before his death in June 2018, ‘never stopped drinking despite overcoming a drug addiction’ according to the book

Leerhsen does not shy away from using these messages, even starting his biography with the exchange.  

Three months after Bourdain’s death, Argento spoke with DailyMailTV while in the middle of facing intense public scrutiny. 

‘People say I murdered him. They say I killed him,’ she said through tears in the interview.

‘People need to think that he killed himself for something like this? He had cheated on me too. It wasn’t a problem for us. He was a man who traveled 265 days a year. We took great pleasure in each other’s company when we saw each other. But we are not children. We are grown-ups.’

The author also took his job seriously when it came to research for the biography. 

Leerhsen at one point stayed in the exact same Paris hotel room where Bourdain took his own life.  

‘There’s been some people who’ve criticized me, saying it’s ghoulish or that I’m the kind of reporter who goes through people’s garbage cans,’ Leerhsen told The Associated Press.

‘But all the best biographers — I wouldn’t put myself in their ranks — but all the guys who win the prizes, they believe that you really need to go where the person was,’ Leerhsen continued. 

Bourdain was filming his CNN show, ‘Parts Unknown,’ at the time of his death in June 2018. 

Sources who spoke to the author said that the host had left set ‘multiple times to talk’ to Argento on the phone and was distressed by the state of their relationship. 

Hours before he took his own life, Bourdain asked: ‘Is there anything I can do?’ Argento replied: ‘Stop busting my balls’

‘Things escalated on Wednesday when by all accounts she told him she no longer wanted to be with him,’ the book reads.

‘Everyone was keeping an eye on him all day and night because he was incredibly distraught. More screaming phone calls through the day. By Thursday he seemed to be better and kind of wanted everyone to back off,’ Leerhsen continues. 

Argento isn’t the only person close to Bourdain who has come out against ‘Down and Out In Paradise: The Life of Anthony Bourdain.’ 

Christopher Bourdain, Anthony’s brother, slammed the book’s release and the use of personal information, including texts, emails, and private messages.

Bourdain was upset with Argento after she was spotted with journalist Hugo Clément at the Hotel de Russie in Rome, where he and Argento shared special memories

Christopher Bourdain, Anthony’s brother, also slammed the biography as ‘defamatory fiction’

Christopher called the biography ‘hurtful and defamatory fiction.’ 

The Los Angeles Times, however, said that Leerhsen had given advance copies to family members and friends who ‘confirmed that my take on the Bourdain family dynamic is accurate.’

Bourdain’s family and Argento had previously challenged the book, accusing Leershen of multiple inaccuracies. Publisher Simon & Schuster stood by it. 

Leehrsen also defended his book as ‘sympathetic’ and ‘true to the man.’

Bourdain with his ex-wife Ottavia Busia-Bourdain. The book describes her as his confidante towards the end of his life 

The TV chef’s daughter Ariane was 11 at the time of his death. He had all but ‘vanished’ from her life, according to the new biography 

‘Every single thing he writes about relationships and interactions within our family as kids and as adults he fabricated or got totally wrong,’ Christopher, Bourdain’s brother, told The New York Times.

The explosive new biography claims Bourdain had been struggling with alcohol and steroids and that he’d also been sleeping with prostitutes.

In one text to his ex-wife, Ottavia Busia-Bourdain, before his death, Bourdain said he’d grown disillusioned with fame and felt isolated.

‘I hate my fans, too. I hate being famous. I hate my job. I am lonely and living in constant uncertainty.’

JOURNALIST BEHIND UNAUTHORIZED BOURDAIN BIOGRAPHY SAYS TV CHEF ‘KNEW WHAT HE’D BECOME’ 

Charles Leerhsen, the author of the book, has previously written for Rolling Stone. He is also the former executive editor of Sports Illustrated. 

He told The New York Times he wanted to offer a side of Bourdain that didn’t have the varnish of ‘an official Bourdain product.’ 

By the end of his life, he said he believes the chef ‘knew what he had become.’

Charles Leerhsen’s book, ‘Down And Out In Paradise: The Life of Anthony Bourdain’ is due to be published on October 11 

‘I think at the very end, in the last days and hours, he realized what he had become.

‘I don’t respect him killing himself, but he did realize, and he did ultimately know he didn’t want to be that person he had become,’ he said. 

He added he had no trouble finding enough people to speak to him, despite the protestations of Bourdain’s brother. Leerhsen also claims Bourdain’s agent, Kim Witherspoon, told others not to speak to him. 

‘A lot of people were willing to talk to me because they were left behind by Tony and by the Tony train,’ he said. 

Leershen’s past biographies include works about Butch Cassidy, Ty Cobb, and TV executive Brandon Tartikoff.

Source: Read Full Article