With her blonde spiky hair and magnetic energy, chef Anne Burrell was known for her zest for life, making her death this week particularly shocking to both fans and friends.
“She made everything fun. She was a true force of nature,” a friend of Burrell’s told The Post. “Her personality was so big.”
The 55-year-old Food Network star — who hosted “Worst Cooks in America” for 15 years — was found unresponsive in her Brooklyn home on Tuesday. She reportedly suffered cardiac arrest and her body was surrounded by pills, as previously reported by Page Six. (It’s premature to draw any conclusions about whether the pills played a role in her death.)
Pals remember the spunky celebrity chef as the “life of every party.”
But at the height of her Food Network fame — rising to stardom alongside Rachel Ray, Bobby Flay and Guy Fieri — one long time friend recalled that, for Burrell, the spotlight cast a shadow.
“I know she kind of struggled — once she was on TV and was on her way to be a TV celebrity chef,” the friend told Page Six.
“She was famous, she was doing the food and wine circuit stuff. She was busy — I kind of felt like she wasn’t totally happy,” the friend added. “People with big personalities sometimes mask things.”
Burrell grew up outside of Syracuse with a deep admiration for Julia Child. At age 23, she enrolled in the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York.
After graduating, she worked as a sous chef for Lidia Bastianich at her famed Felidia Ristoriante in Midtown East, and at Savoy in Soho before becoming a chef at Mario Batali’s Centro Vinoteca.
Her first foray into TV was in 2008 with the Food Network series “Secrets of a Restaurant Chef.” Two years later, she and chef Beau MacMillan launched the cooking competition “Worst Cooks in America” on the network. It went on to become an instant hit, resonating with home cooks across the country.
“America loved her. What you saw on TV was the real Anne,” her friend told Page Six.
She soon became a regular on Food Network’s shows “Chopped” and “Chef Wanted,” most recently competing on Food Network’s “House of Knives” in March.
In May 2017, Burrell opened Phil & Anne’s Good Time Lounge, a neighborhood Mediterranean restaurant and cocktail lounge in Cobble Hill in partnership with her then friend Phil Casaceli.
But, Page Six reported at the time, the pair — who had been friends for years — had a falling out so ugly they severed ties and began speaking only through attorneys almost as soon as doors opened.
Casaceli did not immediately return a request for comment.
The restaurant shuttered in April, 2018.
“I’m sure it was really hard for her to manage — opening this restaurant, managing it and have her job on television,” the friend told Page Six.
Indeed, it’s common for Food Network stars to find more success on TV than in the restaurant world. Others, such as Guy Fieri and Carla Hall, have also had failed ventures in NYC.
“A lot of [them] struggle with feeling like they’re no longer legitimate because they don’t have a real restaurant life anymore,” Allen Salkin, the author of “From Scratch: Inside the Food Net,” told Page Six. “The demands of a restaurant, and the demands of sporadically being on television are almost impossible to marry together.”
Salkin added that, “When you’re getting paid $100,000 to show up for a weekend to a food festival somewhere, it’s hard to justify, spending late hours in a restaurant to earn a couple dollars and make a couple people happy.”
Burrell was known for working hard and playing hard.
“There were some bars I couldn’t go back to because she was too much of a party,” her friend told Page Six. “She was always about going out to party – ‘Hey lets not miss it.’”
In 2018, she met husband Staurt Claxton on the dating app Bumble. They announced their engagement two years later, telling PEOPLE that they “both knew immediately” they were a match.
The pair tied the knot in October, 2021 at Windridge Estates Red Barn 20, in Burrell’s home town of Cazenovia, New York.
“I always knew she wanted to settle down. She wanted a family. She met Stuart. She really found true happiness and fulfillment,” the friend said of Burrell, who inherited a step son, Javier, through Claxton.
But, she noted, despite her big, platinum blond personality, Burrell’s life wasn’t perfect and that she had an impenetrable loneliness.
“She had, like the rest of us, demons … She didn’t let me in too much,” the pal said. “[As a TV star],You have so many high moments. In private, you’re going to have a let down.”
Salkin recalled that Burrell once confided in him that substance abuse was an issue in her family.
“She told me she grew up in a situation with alcoholism,” he said.
Burrell’s dearest culinary colleagues, friends and fans have shared heartfelt sentiments about the late TV food star in the wake of her passing.
“I can’t quite believe it — such a strong, vibrant, fearless woman, so full of life and love, could be gone so soon,” Ray shared in an Instagram tribute on Wednesday, adding that she and husband John [Cusimano] are “heartbroken” calling her “so much more than a colleague.”
Flay wrote that “‘Worst Cooks in America’ was the funnest show on TV. All of your co-hosts (me included) were just along for the Anne Burrell ride.”
When she wasn’t behind the line or in front of the camera, Burrell relished taking in the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden where she became active in its Garden of Dreams Foundation, serving on its advisory board.
She also championed charities such as City Harvest and the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation.
“Anne’s light radiated far beyond those she knew, touching millions across the world. Though she is no longer with us, her warmth, spirit, and boundless love remain eternal,” Burrell’s family said in a statement obtained by Page Six.
Her friend said Burrell was at peace the last time they spoke just over a year ago.
“She seemed so happy, very calm which is not the energy she had 25 years ago,” the confidante said.
On Monday, June 16, a day before her death, Burrell performed in her first improv show at Second City Training Center for comedy in Williamsburg.
The week before, she’d proudly promoted the show on Instagram, sharing a picture of herself surrounded by four fellow performers outside of the improv studio.
“My class and I are coming to the end of this term and we get to do an actual show!!!” she wrote in a post. “Having an ABSOLUTE blast!!!!”
The post Inside Anne Burrell’s secret heartbreak and ambitious drive, after Food Network star’s tragic death appeared first on Page Six.
