NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Biographers try as best they can to walk in the shoes of their subjects. Charles Leerhsen took it a step further: He slept in the same French hotel room where Anthony Bourdain killed himself, earning a unique perspective 鈥� and pushback.
鈥淭here鈥檚 been some people who鈥檝e criticized me, saying it鈥檚 ghoulish or that I鈥檓 the kind of reporter who goes through people鈥檚 garbage cans,鈥� Leerhsen, the author of told The Associated Press. 鈥淏ut all the best biographers 鈥� I wouldn鈥檛 put myself in their ranks 鈥� but all the guys who win the prizes, they believe that you really need to go where the person was.鈥�
Seeing what the chef, writer and TV host saw on his last day alive in 2018 is only part of Leerhsen's exhaustive research for the book out this week, which included 80 interviews and material from Bourdain's laptop, diaries and his final texts.
The impressionistic portrait that emerges is of a complex man who combined swagger and spiky cool with deep insecurity, neediness and image-consciousness. Leerhsen calls him 鈥渁 crash test dummy extraordinaire.鈥�
The book traces Bourdain's life from his childhood in Leonia, New Jersey, to dropping out of college, washing dishes in Cape Cod and spending years as a chef in Manhattan, where he built a punk rock persona and becoming addicted to heroin.
鈥淕etting hooked on heroin was the fulfillment of an almost lifelong dream,鈥� the author writes.
Bourdain's big break came after a magazine piece was expanded into 鈥淜itchen Confidential,鈥� his wickedly funny memoir about the underbelly of the restaurant world. That led to a life as a globetrotting TV raconteur, cut short at 61.
鈥淚 was curious about how could the guy who had the best job in the world, who seemed so cool and was so smart, in some ways and so sophisticated 鈥� how could he do this?鈥� said Leerhsen. 鈥淢y reason for writing the book was that simple.鈥�
What he found was a man who was prone to overdoing things and addicted to being busy, even at the detriment of his happiness.
鈥淚 think he had a hard time just staying in that state of success and bliss,鈥� Leerhsen said.
He quotes a former girlfriend with a telling observation about a TV figure who seemed to be the essence of manliness: Bourdain was actually an adolescent all his life. He actively tried to be a rebel but had a Google alert set to his own name.
The unvarnished biography returns again and again to the performative aspect to Bourdain's personality: 鈥淎uthenticity, in the sense of being the real thing and not a pretender, was his lifelong preoccupation.鈥�
Leerhsen鈥檚 reporting finds an 鈥渋ncreasing obnoxiousness鈥� in Bourdain鈥檚 last two years: 鈥漈ony pushed people away or let long-running relationships lapse until by June 2018 there was no one left in his life to play the role of Person Who Plans Your Funeral.鈥�
The book's most mournful part is the anguished texts from Bourdain in the days leading to his death. He was in an unhealthy long-distance relationship with actor Asia Argento, and was taking steroids, human-growth hormone and Viagra, Leerhsen reports.
鈥淵ou were reckless with my heart,鈥� Bourdain wrote to Argento on the night before he died. The book reveals that Bourdain googled her name 鈥渟everal hundred times鈥� in his last three days after a tabloid published pictures of her with another man.
"He鈥檇 turned into 鈥渁 character out of a sordid, slightly deranged James Ellroy novel, a doomed and desperate lover," Leerhsen writes. The last website Bourdain visited was a prostitution service.
The book is unauthorized; Leerhsen wasn't able to speak to many in Bourdain鈥檚 inner circle on the record and relies on many confidential sources. Argento, tellingly, did not participate. But it is a very detailed profile, revealing everything from what posters were on his dorm walls to his preferred brand of gin.
Bourdain's estranged brother, Christopher, has called the book hurtful and defamatory fiction, but Leerhsen called him unreliable and said no one else has come forward to challenge his work.
Simon & Schuster, in a statement, defended the book, saying it 鈥渋s a candid and comprehensive biography鈥� that is "based on extensive interviews with people who knew him intimately. We stand by our forthcoming publication.鈥�
Leerhsen is a former executive editor at Sports Illustrated whose previous books include biographies of Ty Cobb and Butch Cassidy. He said his account of Bourdain, flaws and all, serves as a corrective to many profiles that are fawning.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 get the people who say, 鈥楧on鈥檛 tell me. I want to remember him a certain way,鈥欌�� he said. 鈥淚 was curious. If you鈥檙e not curious like I was, then God bless you, you know?鈥�
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Mark Kennedy is at
Mark Kennedy, The Associated Press
