He could not stomach the fact that he was a third rate celebrity chef, who could never hope to cut the mustard compared to Gordon Ramsay.

Dunno. I know he’s had a troubled life, problems with drug addiction and binge drinking, and I know he wrote about how he was suicidal after his first marriage fell apart. So it’s not as if it came out of nowhere, but it’s incredibly disheartening. :(

He may have realized that he was getting older and that he would die someday. Maybe he couldn’t handle the realization of the inevitability of that reality, so he killed himself to relieve himself of the apprehension.

I have heard that he suffered from depression.

It doesn’t matter how famous you are, or how much money you have, or even how successful your career is. Depression is an equal opportunity offender.

I think @Kardamom is correct. Depression is horrible, especially when combined with alcohol or drug addiction.

He was retiring and it was the last few episodes that he would do.
He probably felt lost if not doing what he loved,travelling all over the World being entertained and on the companies dime.
Without all that how would he survive?
He could had got into writing about his experiences and or note down the world wide recipes?
Too bad that he could not see that possibility?

Perhaps much like a spinning top once it stops what is his purpose?

He obviously liked the hustle and bustle of always on the go to the next adventure
.
I wonder at times if people who are like that , “always super busy” are really avoiding responsibility ?

There is no rhyme or reason to suicide like that.

@Inspired_2write No idea he was retiring. That makes me wonder why retire then. Or is it CNN canceling his show?

If that’s the case then yes, maybe he just couldn’t see himself anymore not doing what he loved and unable to find a new purpose in life.

What @Kardamom said. If you have suffered from depression, the concept of asking “why” doesn’t make any sense. Depression is not situational sadness.

Bourdain was raised with privilege. His depression could very well have been exacerbated by the levels of poverty he saw all over the world that he could do nothing to alleviate.

To be so personally involved with the basic cultures of so many and not be able to make a real difference, or perhaps to be aware of the trivialization of a certain level of hardship living for the purpose of entertainment, can increase one’s despair.

Or perhaps it was just years of substance abuse, a single traumatic event or simply a natural predisposition to suffer from anxiety and depression. Really, there is no telling who will be stricken with it. “Seeing poverty” is not what typically causes depression. It is a thing that often strikes suddenly and indiscriminately. More often than not you cannot pin down the source or reason for it. If anything being raised “with privilege” probably helped keep it at bay. Seeing different people, cultures and geography is overwhelmingly more uplifting than it is depressing even though there is always a little of both.

Maybe he thought that he jumped the shark.

@mazingerz88
Yes his longtime friend stated that he was going to be let go.
I guess he hadn’t thought of what he would do after..he had so much more potential than he thought.
Lots of people lose themselves when they are let go or near retirement age.. instead of looking at it as a way to transform ones life and purpose into another form.
It is a time to do all the things that one never had the time to do when working for another.
Even before mid life one could envision possibilities of creating or doing what they always wanted to do.