Officials with the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner on Thursday confirmed that Food Network star Anne Burrel took her own life last month, according to multiple media reports.
The beloved 55-year-old celebrity chef, host of the network’s “Worst Cooks in America”, was found on June 17 in her shower, unresponsive with an assortment of approximately 100 pills surrounding her, PEOPLE reported.
The 911 call came in at around 7:50 a.m., with the reporting party telling the operator they were concerned she’d suffered cardiac arrest.
Paramedics responded to the apartment and declared Burrell deceased.
According to the Chief Medical Examiner’s report, her cause of death was caused by “acute intoxication due to the combined effects of diphenhydramine, ethanol, cetirizine, and amphetamine.”
Both cetirizine and diphenhydramine are antihistamines. Amphetamines are often used in the treatment of attention deficit hyper-activity disorder, while ethanol is a compound found in alcohol.
While the celebrity chef’s final season of “Worst Cooks” with co-host Gabe Bertaccini is scheduled to premiere July 28, the Food Network ran some of the fan-favorite’s most popular episodes back-to-back on June 28 in honor of her legacy.
Tyler Florence, Burrell’s co-star on the show for seven seasons described her as “Mensa smart with razor wit and sincere kindness,” in a statement posted to Instagram on the day of her death.
“I am heartbroken,” he wrote.
Other Food Network luminaries, including Bobby Flay Giada De Laurentiis and Alex Guarnaschelli, also paid tribute to Burrell, who got her start on the network as a sous chef on “Iron Chef America,” a role that eventually led to her own show “Secrets of a Restaurant Chef” that premiered in 2008.
Buddy Valastro, star of “Cake Boss” also took to Instagram to share a tribute to Burrell.
“Anne, your passion, energy, and love for food lit up every kitchen,” he wrote. “You were a true force and a beautiful. Rest in peace, Chef. We will miss you dearly.”
If you or anyone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis, call or text 988, the national Crisis Lifeline, to speak with trained counselors for confidential and free support.
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