It’s been one month since the death of Anthony Bourdain, and the food world is still reeling from the loss of arguably its best-known and most-beloved figure.
But while millions may have felt that they knew Bourdain personally, no one has been more affected by his tragic suicide than the small inner circle that included his girlfriend, Asia Argento, and his beloved 11-year-old daughter Ariane.
Despite finding fame later in life, Bourdain amassed a sizable fortune during his two decades in the public eye.
While the total of his cash savings might not be as high as fans would expect, Bourdain’s properties and other assets ensure that Ariane and his other loved ones will not be left wanting in their time of grief.
According to The New York Daily News, Ariane will inherit the vast majority of her father’s $ 1.2 million estate.
The paper reports that Bourdain had $ 425,000 in savings and cash at the time of his death.
He also had $ 35,000 in brokerage funds, $ 250,000 in personal property and another $ 500,000 in “intangible property including royalties and residuals.”
Most of that will now pass to Ariane, with her mother, Bourdain’s estranged second wife Ottavia Busia-Bourdain, serving as executor of the estate for as long as Ariane is a minor.
Bourdain also had a $ 1.1 million mortgage, but the exact location of the property was not revealed in his will.
Strangely, if Ariane were to die, the estate would pass not to her mother, but to her nanny, a woman named Myra Quizon.
Bourdain skyrocketed to fame at the age of 44 with the publication of his bestselling memoir, Kitchen Confidential.
He later revealed that at the time the book was written, he was massively in debt and had never even had a savings account.
The surprise success of Kitchen Confidential made Bourdain a household name virtually overnight and resulted numerous lucrative media deals.
(The book was even adapted into a short-lived sitcom starring a young Bradley Cooper as an irascible chef named Jack Bourdain.)
In the years that followed, Bourdain would host multiple popular television series and publish 10 more books, ranging from travelogues to graphic novels.
In the weeks after his death, several of Bourdain’s best-loved works re-entered the bestseller list.
While Bourdain might be best remembered as a TV personality, he’s always stated that he felt he was better suited to the less glamorous worlds of cooking and writing.
It’s a testament to how well he spent his tragically foreshortened life that Bourdain earned the respect of fans and colleagues alike in so many widely varied ventures.
His daughter may not have had much time with her father, but fans can take some solace in the fact that she’ll be well provided for.
