A lot was going on, especially in his final years. Anthony Bourdain was finally healthy after decades of drug abuse and hard living. He had periods of great stability, and periods of great instability. A man of manic energy that came and went… his inner peace and stability was disturbed by the presence of a rather erratic new partner, the actress Asia Argento.
To say Argento was quite a character would be the understatement of the century. Bourdain was not a man who could do anything in moderation — be it drugs, be it alcohol, or love. He could either love someone deeply and desperately, or not at all. No half measures. When he fell for Argento, he fell hard. But she was wild, unpredictable, and unfaithful. It came out shortly after Bourdain’s death that she had been unfaithful to him with other men on more than one occasion. It worsened his depression and made him stop doing things he cared about, such as martial arts (which had grounded him).
She insisted on being a part of all he did, she usurped his time, forced herself into his shoots and project and was constantly around behind the scenes of his show. It drove him mad, but he couldn’t refuse her anything. He had his demons long before he ever met Argento, and perhaps they would have consumed him either way, but it certainly seems that this woman was the final drop that caused his cup to run over.