Food Network star Anne Burrell’s sudden death last month at age 55 has been ruled a suicide, according to the New York Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
Police say the cause of death was “acute intoxication due to the combined effects of diphenhydramine, ethanol, cetirizine, and amphetamine,” according to a statement provided to The Washington Post. Amphetamine is a stimulant found in prescription drugs used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and ethanol is a compound in alcohol. Diphenhydramine and cetirizine are antihistamines.
The celebrity chef, known for her shock of platinum hair and her energetic presence on culinary competitions and shows for two decades, was found dead June 17 at her home in Brooklyn. At the time, the New York Police Department reported that a woman was found “unconscious and unresponsive” at an address that matched Ms. Burrell’s.
The police were investigating her death as a possible drug overdose, according to an internal document viewed by the New York Times that said she was “discovered in the shower unconscious and unresponsive surrounded by approximately (100) assorted pills.”
As a mentor to rookie cooks on the show she hosted, “Worst Cooks in America,” Burrell shared her exacting culinary techniques — and her exuberant personality. She got her start on the network as a sous chef on “Iron Chef America” and went on in 2008 to host her own show, “Secrets of a Restaurant Chef,” which ran for nine seasons. Over the decades, she appeared on a slew of shows including “Chef Wanted,” “Chopped” and “Food Network Star.” Most recently, she appeared on the competitive cooking show “House of Knives,” which debuted in March.
According to news reports, Burrell had recently taken up comedy improv. The night before she died, according to reports, she had performed at the Second City New York in Brooklyn alongside fellow students of its classes.
Following her death, her family released a statement calling her “a beloved wife, sister, daughter, stepmother, and friend.” “Though she is no longer with us, her warmth, spirit, and boundless love remain eternal,” it read.
Burrell was born in New York and trained at the Culinary Institute of America and the Italian Culinary Institute for Foreigners. She worked at New York’s Felidia restaurant, under the famed chef Lidia Bastianich, and got her start as a TV personality as a sous chef to Mario Batali on the “Iron Chef” competition. (Batali was later accused of sexual harassment, and he and his former partner Joe Bastianich agreed in 2021 to pay a total of $600,000 to at least 20 women and men who said they were sexually harassed while they worked at Manhattan restaurants owned by the Batali-Bastianich group.)
In 2021, she married Stuart Claxton, a marketing executive. Other survivors include her mother; a sister; and a stepson.
In her 2013 cookbook, “Own Your Kitchen: Recipes to Inspire & Empower,” Burrell wrote that she considered herself a cook at heart more than a TV personality. “It doesn’t matter how many shows I have or how many books I write, cooking is in my soul and if the shows and all the celebrity stuff disappeared tomorrow, I’d go right back into the kitchen and pick up my wooden spoon and start cooking,” she wrote. “It’s just who I am.”
