Anthony Bourdain once cooked Thanksgiving dinner for three of Weinstein's accusers

The chef and TV personality has died aged 61, after reportedly taking his own life

Amongst the many, many tributes to beloved chef and TV personality Anthony Bourdain, who has died aged 61, is a reminder of his early, outspoken support for the #metoo movement.

Bourdain's girlfriend, actress Asia Argento, was amongst the first to publicly accuse Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault. Bourdain credited Argento with helping open his eyes to the issue, telling The Daily Show's Trevor Noah: "I came out of a brutal, oppressive business that was historically unfriendly to women."

"I knew a lot of women, it turned out, who had stories about their experiences—about people I knew—who did not feel I was the sort of person they could confide in.”

“I started speaking about it out of a sense of real rage,” he continued. “I’d like to say that I was only enlightened in some way or I’m an activist or virtuous, but in fact, I have to be honest with myself. I met one extraordinary woman with an extraordinary and painful story, who introduced me to a lot of other women with extraordinary stories and suddenly it was personal.”

After Argento came forward with her accusations as part of the New Yorker article by Ronan Farrow, Bourdain wrote on Twitter: ”I am proud and honoured to know you. You just did the hardest thing in the world.” Weinstein has said that all sexual acts were consensual, while his legal team have called a number of the other allegations “false”.

Over Thanksgiving weekend of last year, Bourdain tweeted an image of Argento, alongside with two other of Weinstein's accusers (of which there are over 80), Rose McGowan and Annabella Sciorra.

"It was an honor to cook for this meeting of the minds," he captioned the photo with. All three women shared the same photo to their own social media accounts, with McGowan calling the evening "magical".

​Bourdain was found dead in a hotel room in Strasbourg, France, where he had been working on an upcoming episode of his TV show Parts Unknown. He reportedly took his own life.

CNN, who aired the series, announced his death in the statement: "It is with extraordinary sadness we can confirm the death of our friend and colleague, Anthony Bourdain. His love of great adventure, new friends, fine food and drink and the remarkable stories of the world made him a unique storyteller. His talents never ceased to amaze us and we will miss him very much."

"Our thoughts and prayers are with his daughter and family at this incredibly difficult time."

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