The last text message Anthony Bourdain sent before his death at 61 was chillingly disclosed

Anthony Bourdain’s chilling final text before his shock death aged 61 in 2018 has been revealed.

The influential and opinionated celeb chef died by suicide in June of 2018 in a hotel room at the Le Chambard hotel in Kaysersberg, France. 

Anthony Bourdain’s former assistant, Laurie Woolever, has recently published a memoir called Care and Feeding: A Memoir. In this book, she delves into her intricate relationship with Bourdain and discloses that she had a conversation with him the day prior to his tragic death.

She told her boss: ‘I hope you’re doing OK’ to which he replied: ‘I’ll live, and we’ll survive’ – per an excerpt obtained by People.

Woolever assumed that when Bourdain mentioned ‘we,’ he was referring to his partner at the time, Asia Argento. Just before this, Argento had been spotted kissing a French journalist, and photographs of this intimate moment were on the verge of being published by the National Enquirer, a US magazine.

Prior to the publication of the Enquirer piece, Bourdain was already aware of their interest. He had advised Woolever to ignore any inquiries from the Enquirer or other publications about the incident, but he also asked to be informed once the Enquirer article was released.

Anthony Bourdain’s chilling final text before his shock suicide aged 61 in 2018 has been revealed – Bourdain pictured in NYC in May of 2017 

His former assistant Laurie Woolever has detailed her complex relationship with Bourdain in new tome, Care and Feeding: A Memoir, and revealed she last spoke with him the day before his death (pictured together)

She wrote: ‘The next day, Tony asked me to schedule a number of things for him — a lunch, a haircut, a doctor appointment, a private session with his jiu-jitsu trainer — for the week after his return to New York’ before they exchanged their final messages.

At 4.25am the next morning, Bourdain’s agent Kim called her to tell her of Bourdain’s suicide. 

She said Bourdain had previously ‘glibly threatened a million times’ to take his life,  ‘in the face of something as minor as a bad hamburger or a delayed flight.’

Speaking out after his death, Argento – who dated Bourdain from 2016-2018 – said: ‘Anthony gave all of himself in everything he did. His brilliant, fearless spirit touched and inspired so many, and his generosity knew no bounds. He was my love, my rock, my protector.

‘I am beyond devastated. My thoughts are with his family. I would ask that you respect their privacy and mine.’

She later hit back at people who claimed she ‘killed Bourdain’ telling DailyMailTV in September 2018: ‘People say I murdered him. They say I killed him. I understand that the world needs to find a reason. I would like to find a reason too.

‘People need to think that he killed himself for something like this. He cheated on me too. It wasn’t a problem for us.’

Bourdain honed his craft as a chef working in New York City in the 1980s and 1990s, at one point attaining the position of executive chef Brasserie Les Halles.

She told her boss: ‘I hope you’re doing OK’ to which he replied: ‘I’ll live, and we’ll survive’ in an excerpt obtained by People – pictured 2016

She believed the ‘we’ referred to Bourdain’s partner Asia Argento, who days prior, had been pictured kissing a French journalist – pictured together September 2017

Woolever’s book is due for release on March 11

Bourdain’s profile rose significantly with the 1999 publication of a series of essays in The New Yorker titled Don’t Eat Before Reading This.

He became what Deadline described as ‘an instant star on the media food scene’ for his frank, blunt manner of communication that separated him from his peers.

He went on to host and appear in a number of culinary TV shows, including Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown on CNN; Raw Craft; The Mind of a Chef on PBS; The Taste; and Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations on the Travel Channel.

His star continued to rise with the release of his 2000 book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, which blended details of his own life and career with his views on the restaurant business.

In the wake of his death, Bourdain was mourned far and wide, with condolences coming from a number of fans and celebrities he had crossed paths with.

Former President Barack Obama, who appeared with Bourdain on Parts Unknown in 2016, said on Twitter, ‘He taught us about food – but more importantly, about its ability to bring us together. To make us a little less afraid of the unknown. We’ll miss him.’

Fellow celeb chef Jamie Oliver said on Instagram that the death of the culinary innovator left ‘chefs and fans around the world with a massive foodie hole that simply can’t be replaced.’

In the year prior to his passing, Bourdain also gained notoriety for his outspoken criticism of tPresident Donald Trump; and his support for women amid the #MeToo movement.

Argento, had accused since-convicted producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault.

Bourdain said at the time on Medium, ‘I stand unhesitatingly and unwaveringly with the women.’

Argento said in a tweet following Bourdain’s passing that she was ‘beyond devastated,’ and that the chef’s ‘brilliant, fearless spirit touched and inspired so many, and his generosity knew no bounds.’

Actress Rose McGowan, who also accused Weinstein of sexual assault, said in a clip online, ‘Anthony I am so mad at you – you were so loved, the world is not better without you. I have a message for those considering suicide as a solution to a temporary problem. Please call a hotline.’

In the year prior to his passing, Bourdain also gained notoriety for his outspoken criticism of then-President Donald Trump; and his support for women amid the #MeToo movement. Pictured in 2017 

The chef and TV personality was pictured on Late Night with Seth Meyers in 2017 

Bourdain was father to daughter Ariane Bourdain, 17, with then-wife Ottavia Busia-Bourdain.

In a 2008 interview with the AP, Bourdain had said that his daughter’s birth had changed his outlook on life. ‘I feel obliged to at least do the best I can and not do anything really stupidly self-destructive if I can avoid it,’ he said.

Besides showcasing food, a Parts Unknown also served as a window to the local culture — particularly the parts not overrun by tourists. A trip to Japan in the series’ first season included an odd show with robots and scantily clad women, a visit with a death metal band and a meal shared with a woman involved in the city’s sadomasochistic community.

Bourdain was reluctant to analyze why his series succeeded.

‘If you think about who the audience is and what their expectations might be, I think that’s the road to badness and mediocrity,’ he told the AP. ‘You go out there and show the best story you can as best you can. If it’s interesting to you, hopefully it’s interesting to others. If you don’t make television like that, it’s pandering.’

Bourdain was born in New York City and was raised in Leonia, New Jersey. He had written that his love of food began as a youth while on a family vacation in France, when he ate his first oyster. He was candid about his personal struggles, saying that drug use led to his dropping out of Vassar College after two years.

Working in restaurants led him to the Culinary Institute of America, where he graduated in 1978, and began working in kitchens in New York City. He became executive chef at Brasserie Les Halles in 1998.

In the preface to the latest edition Kitchen Confidential, Bourdain wrote of his shock at the success of his book, which he wrote by getting up at 5 a.m. to steal a couple of hours at the computer before appearing at the saute station for lunch.

He said he never intended to write an expose or to ‘rip the lid off the restaurant business,’ as he said he liked the restaurant business the way it was.

‘What I set out to do was write a book that my fellow cooks would find entertaining and true,’ he said. ‘I wanted it to sound like me talking at say … ten o’clock on a Saturday night, after a busy dinner rush, me and a few cooks hanging around in the kitchen, knocking back a few beers and talking.’

Bourdain said he really had no idea that anyone outside the world of chefs would even pay attention to his comments.

‘The new celebrity chef culture is a remarkable and admittedly annoying phenomenon. While it’s been nothing but good for business – and for me personally – many of us in the life can’t help snickering about it,’ he wrote. ‘Of all the professions, after all, few people are less suited to be suddenly thrown into the public eye than chefs.’

For confidential support in the UK, call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit www.samaritans.org for details; In the US call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (1-800-273-8255)