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CNN announced on June 8 that celebrity chef and TV host Anthony Bourdain died of an apparent suicide in his Strasbourg, France hotel room. Bourdain's passing is the second tragic celebrity death at the hands of mental illness within the past week—fashion designer Kate Spade was found dead in her Manhattan apartment on June 5.
In what is surely a difficult time for anyone who suffers from depression, Paula Froelich, the journalist and author who dated Bourdain in 2005, took to social media to write at length about her experiences with the "black dog."
She first posted to Instagram, with a simple caption:
To a good man, a great friend, a loyal love. That's all I'm going to say
Froelich then took to Twitter, where she wrote a moving thread that began:
Here's the thing about depression: it's a sneaky little, sticky B****.
You can be rich as hell, totally successful but still lonely AF and the "you're nothing but a fraud" voice only goes away when the ambien takes effect.
Here’s the thing about depression: it’s a sneaky little, sticky Bitch. You can be rich as hell, totally successful… https://t.co/6nB0MuLdbz— Paula Froelich 🤔 (@Paula Froelich 🤔) 1528462166.0
The problem with that is ambien makes the harsh voice louder in the morning. And there’s only a few you can talk to… https://t.co/jh28BbtXjn— Paula Froelich 🤔 (@Paula Froelich 🤔) 1528462167.0
And it can take a village of pills, shrinks, empathetic friends, neighbors, to pull you out of a slump - and guess… https://t.co/4TFRDU9BRo— Paula Froelich 🤔 (@Paula Froelich 🤔) 1528462167.0
You know because you’ve wondered and went to go get checked out hoping that there was some magic pill somewhere tha… https://t.co/5iA09SMCBQ— Paula Froelich 🤔 (@Paula Froelich 🤔) 1528462167.0
It’s lonely, it magnifies everything into something awful, and you don’t know when or if this cycle will end... so… https://t.co/5Jxn0lyEYU— Paula Froelich 🤔 (@Paula Froelich 🤔) 1528462168.0
But take heart in knowing: only the best, funniest, loveliest, most empathetic, wonderful, talented people have dep… https://t.co/8kYXMbIHr9— Paula Froelich 🤔 (@Paula Froelich 🤔) 1528462168.0
Froelich ends on a hopeful note. No matter what we go through, at least we all have each other.
But take heart in knowing: only the best, funniest, loveliest, most empathetic, wonderful, talented people have depression. You're in a good crowd. Now. Let's go fight that black dog. Together.
Many celebrities paid tribute to Bourdain following his passing and continued the important discussion about dealing with clinical depression and destigmatizing mental illness.
Depression isn’t the same for everyone. But for me - and perhaps for Bourdain - it has meant feeling everything a l… https://t.co/KTLo50Oe7k— Rep. Forrest Bennett (@Rep. Forrest Bennett) 1528462759.0
There isn’t much you can do for people with depression, but one of the things you CAN do is the most powerful: help… https://t.co/KPiFUfKS9G— Rep. Forrest Bennett (@Rep. Forrest Bennett) 1528463241.0
devastated by the losses of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain. we must continue to destigmatize depression, anxiety &… https://t.co/scygMOgLw3— Dan Reynolds (@Dan Reynolds) 1528465454.0
Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade all in a week 💔 Depression is real and we never know what people might be going thr… https://t.co/ZnY0T4j9iP— Anne Curtis-Smith (@Anne Curtis-Smith) 1528470284.0
According to AFSP, there are nearly 45,000 suicides every year in the US. Shocking. I was saddened to hear of the d… https://t.co/LLK4R22n0x— Bryan Cranston (@Bryan Cranston) 1528461489.0
None of us have to fight alone.
National Suicide Hotline 1 800 273 8255 I’ve brushed up against this darkness and I know it’s a tempting exit but… https://t.co/XlAbitx80I— Patton Oswalt (@Patton Oswalt) 1528459891.0
H/T - Indy 100, Getty Images