Val Kilmer Criticized For Claiming Anthony Bourdain Was ‘Selfish’ For Committing Suicide

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Val Kilmer has been criticized for suggesting that Anthony Bourdain was selfish for taking his own life. The TV, literature and food worlds have been left devastated by the passing of TV chef and writer Bourdain, who has died by suicide aged 61. Bourdain – a father-of-one who was in a relationship with actress Asia Argento – took his own life in his hotel room in France, where he was filming an episode for his CNN series Parts Unknown.

But Batman Forever actor Kilmer has angered many by calling suicide ‘the most selfish act a human can execute’ in a lengthy Facebook post.

The 58-year-old wrote: ‘Oh the darkness. Oh the dark thick pain of loss. The selfishness. ‘How many moments away were you from feeling the love that was universal. From every corner of the world you were loved. So selfish. You’ve given us cause to be so angry. ‘A spiritual guide once told me suicide is the most selfish act a human can execute and I was confused but she explained there’s just no mental place further away from humanity and purpose than the hypnotized numbness that creates the false picture of despair, that forces the victim, unaware, to believe, life’s legacy is over. That there is no more service. No more task. No more love left to give to another to to be given. Nothing to heal.’ Kilmer continued: ‘I hear you took your life in paris. What hotel? Did you relapse? Did you just get home from the best meal of your life? Did you cheat on your girl. Those of us that knew you are shocked and angry and angry and angry selfishly angry, for what you just did to us.’ The actor also wrote: ‘I think and dream and plan on eating and tasting and enjoying every meal I’ve ever enjoyed and every meal I’ve learned to enjoy in my imagination, Altho I’ve never met a meal I didn’t like in the last 40 years except anything with too much cilantro. Was that it? You woke up and realized you were no longer hungry. And that even with a young daughter at home you would never be hungry enough again to want to take in breath.’

In the comments on the Facebook post, fans of Bourdain hit out at Kilmer for suggesting that he was selfish for failing to see a way out of depression. One person wrote: ‘ Anyone who puts suicide and selfish in the same sentence has no idea what this man was going through, and further adds to the guilt and shame associated with this illness instead of lifting others up out of it. Shame on you.’

Another comment read: ‘ I’m incredibly sad to hear your angry words and accuse a person of being so selfish.’