Anthony Bourdain’s CNN show, Parts Unknown, aired an eerily foreshadowing segment on Sunday following the recent death of its host.
The episode featured Bourdain and director Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan, Mother!) touring the southeast Asia nation of Bhutan and learning about the local culture and national religion, Bhutanese Buddhism, from a number of locals.
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Aronofsky recalled filming the episode in an recent article he wrote for CNN that the two participated in a Bhutanese death ritual, a common practice in the religion where people take time to ponder over the concept of death.
“It seems ironic now that on our last day of shooting we performed a Bhutanese death ritual,” Aronofsky wrote. “We debated the fate of the country, the fate of the world. He was perplexed as to how mankind’s endless hunger to consume could be curtailed.”
“It is considered enlightening and therapeutic to think about death for a few minutes a day,” Bourdain said in the episode’s narration. The footage was reportedly filmed six months before Bourdain’s passing.
On June 8, the 61-year-old celebrity chef was found dead inside a hotel room in Keysersberg, France in what would later be determined to be a death by suicide with a hotel bathrobe belt.
CNN initially broke the news, and aired a tribute to Bourdain titled Remembering Anthony Bourdain later that same day.
“It’s really… yeah, it’s really hard to imagine,” CNN anchor Anderson Cooper said, holding back tears. “I mean, you never really know what goes on in anybody’s head, and you never know what goes on in anybody’s heart. But certainly, the pain the he must have been feeling, at least in that moment, or in those moments, and the loneliness he must have been feeling, it’s just terribly sad to think about. And it makes me very sad for him to have succumb to that.”
The network announced on June 14 that the final two filmed episodes of Parts Unknown would still air as scheduled. Sunday’s episode, titled “Bhutan” was the last one, concluded the series at 96 episodes across 11 seasons.
In the weeks that have passed numerous family members, loved ones, co-workers and fans have mourned Bourdain’s death. His girlfriend of two years, Asia Argento, has posted numerous tributes to him on social media.
“Anthony gave all of himself in everything that he did. His brilliant, fearless spirit touched and inspires so many, and his generosity knew no bounds,” she wrote on the day he died. “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.”
On Friday she posted a selfie of herself with Bourdain, captioning the snapshot with “Two weeks without you.”
