This article deals with mental health problems, including suicide.
Staff at L'Auberge D'ill, a three-Michelin star restaurant outside Colmar, are coming to grips with the shocking death of Anthony Bourdain.
The celebrity chef, who committed suicide on Friday, had filmed a segment of his show at the restaurant last Wednesday.
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Speaking to the Associated Press, the restaurant's Sommelier, Herve Fleuriel, said he couldn't believe it when he heard the news Bourdain's death.
"You actually don't really believe in it. You think it's probably a fake," Mr Fleuriel said.
Two days before his death, Bourdain and fellow chef Eric Ripert had shared a lunch at the three-Michelin star restaurant.
"They were talking with each other, they were commentating, they looked like they were pretty happy with their own things," Mr Fleuriel explained.
The famed cook, writer and host of the CNN series Parts Unknown killed himself Friday in a luxury hotel in the ancient village of Kaysersberg, Christian de Rocquigny, the prosecutor of Colmar in France's eastern Alsace region, told The Associated Press in a phone interview.
Mr Rocquigny said there was no evidence of foul play or violence in Bourdain's death in a French hotel room.
He said there did not appear to be much planning in the television personality's suicide.
"There is no element that makes us suspect that someone came into the room at any moment," he said, adding that a medical expert had concluded that there were no signs of violence on Bourdain's body.
Mr Rocquigny said toxicology tests were being carried out on Bourdain's body, including urine tests, to see if the 61-year-old American took any medications or other drugs, in an effort to help his family understand if anything led him to kill himself.
Olivier Nasti, the chef and owner of Le Chambard, the luxury hotel in Kaysersberg where Bourdain took his life, paid tribute to his colleague Saturday.
"It is with great respect for the leader, the author, the TV entertainer, the visionary Anthony Bourdain that I express all my condolences to his family and to the anonymous people around the world who he made dream so much," Nasti said in a statement Saturday.
Where to find help and support:
Need to Talk? - Call or text 1737
Lifeline - 0800 543 354 or (09) 5222 999 within Auckland
Youthline - 0800 376 633, text 234, email talk@youthline.co.nz or online chat
Samaritans - 0800 726 666
- Depression Helpline - 0800 111 757
- Suicide Crisis Helpline - 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO)
APTN / Newshub.
