Asia Argento posts image of former bodybuilder with the words ‘stop busting my balls’ after book claims she texted those words to Anthony Bourdain right before his 2018 suicide

• Argento, 47, posted a photo to her Instagram with a T-shirt featuring bodybuilder Ronnie Coleman with the phrase ‘Stop Busting My Balls’  superimposed
• She sent the same phrase to Bourdain the night before he died, according to ‘Down and Out in Paradise’
• The couple had allegedly been fighting the week of his death, with Argento telling Bourdain she no longer wanted to be with him
• They’d been arguing over her being photographed with another man at a hotel where they had special memories 
• The book – which Bourdain’s ex-wife is seemingly in support of – paints Argento as being jealous of his close ties with his family

Asia Argento has responded to claims made against her in a recent book that details her tumultuous relationship with Anthony Bourdain in his final days, through a new Instagram photo.

Argento, 47, posted an image to one of her Instagram stories of her wearing a T-shirt of former professional bodybuilder Ronnie Coleman with the phrase ‘Stop Busting My Balls’ superimposed.

The night before Bourdain committed suicide, Argento sent him that message during their final text exchange, according to Charles Leershen’s book, ‘Down and Out in Paradise.’

Bourdain asked: ‘Is there anything I can do?’

She replied: ‘Stop busting my balls’.

He responded: ‘OK,’ and killed himself hours later.

Bourdain’s family and Argento have already challenged the book, accusing Leershen of multiple inaccuracies. Publisher Simon & Schuster is standing by it. 

Pictured: The image posted to Asia Argento’s Instagram. It features former professional bodybuilder Ronnie Coleman and the phrase ‘Stop Busting My Balls,’ which she reportedly sent to boyfriend Anthony Bourdain before his June 2018 suicide

Pictured: The new biography of Anthony Bourdain written by Charles Leerhsen, a former executive editor of Sports Illustrated and writer for Rolling Stone

The new ‘unauthorized’ biography details Anthony Bourdain’s life and includes intimate texts between he and Argento (pictured)

The biography uses files, texts and emails from Bourdain’s personal phone and laptop to paint a picture of the chef’s life and highlights his turmoiled last days before he took his own life in June 2018.

While filming his CNN show, ‘Parts Unknown,’ in France, Bourdain was fighting with the Italian actress while he was on set and left ‘multiple times to talk to her on the phone,’ according to the book.

Bourdain became angry that she was spotted by paparazzi with journalist Hugo Clément in the lobby of Hotel de Russie in Rome, where he and Argento shared special memories.

‘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.’

Argento declined to comment on the book. 

In an email to the journalist, she said she forbade him from publishing, adding: ‘It is always Judas who writes the biography.’

Three months after Bourdain’s death, Argento spoke with DailyMailTV after facing public backlash.

‘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.’

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

Bourdain asked: ‘Is there anything I can do?’ She replied: ‘Stop busting my balls’

Though Argento and Bourdain’s brother are against releasing the ‘unauthorized’ biography, Leehrsen defended his book, which goes on sale October 11, as ‘sympathetic’ and ‘true to the man.’

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

JOURNALIST BEHIND AUNAUTHORIZED BOURDAIN BIOGRAPHY SAYS TV CHEF HAD BECOME ‘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.

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