Celebrity Chef Antonio Carluccio Dead at Age 80

Celebrity chef and restaurateur Antonio Carluccio has died at the age of 80, the BBC reports.A [...]

By Libby Birk

Celebrity chef and restaurateur Antonio Carluccio has died at the age of 80, the BBC reports.

A statement from the Italian chef's agent said: "It is with great sadness that we announce that Commendatore Antonio Carluccio OBE sadly passed away this morning."

No cause of death has been given.

Carluccio was well known for his Italian restaurant chain, Carluccio's, which he founded in 1999.

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He was also known for appearing in TV shows like the BBC Two series The Two Greedy Italians alongside chef Gennaro Contaldo.

The Guardian reports that he received the Commendatore, the equivalent of a British knighthood, from the Italian government in 1998 for services to Italy.

In 2007, he received an OBE from Queen Elizabeth for his services to the catering industry.

In his 2012 autobiography A Recipe for Life, Carluccio wrote that he suffered from depression and attempted to take his own life six different times. He wrote that on one occasion he attempted to stab himself with scissors and then lied about the suicide attempt, saying he had been cut accidentally.

He also wrote that while his 28-year marriage to designer Sir Terence Conran's sister, Priscilla collapsed, he tried to escape the misery with whisky, gambling and suicide attempts.

This story is developing...

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