Ariane remembers Anthony Bourdain as both a typical dad and the opposite of that. On the one hand, he was an engaged father who let her pretend to cut his hair and let her eat fast food away from Ottavia Busia’s disapproving eyes. On the other hand, he was a father who let his kid watch “Archer” and play video games intended for adults. “I still watched the regular kid TV shows, but I wasn’t hearing about anyone else who was playing ‘Grand Theft Auto’ with their parents,” Ariane recalled in Laurie Woolever’s “Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography” in an excerpt shared by Vanity Fair.
Bourdain was also the type of father who believed in traditions. Every Father’s Day, Bourdain and Ariane went to the New Jersey Palisades and climbed all the way up the hill. “There are perfect stairs, but we decided to just go through the trees and branches and stuff, which you’re not supposed to do,” she said. Bourdain shared a snippet of their yearly adventure on Instagram in 2016. “Climbing the Palisades. A #FathersDay tradition,” he captioned a photo of Ariane in the woods with her back to the camera, as Bourdain always hid her face on social media.
Bourdain and Ariane also shared a love for martial arts, particularly Brazilian jiu-jitsu, something he often boasted about on Instagram. “My warrior princess doesn’t let a broken thumb slow her down,” he captioned a November 2014 post. The father-daughter bond was clear, but they also had their lows.
