- Food Network star Anne Burrell’s suicide shines a light on a growing epidemic. People who walk among us are battling demons unknown.
Earlier this month, Food Network star Anne Burrell passed away. Burrell, 55, gained national attention first as a sous chef to Mario Batali on the cooking competition “Iron Chef America.” A ball of take charge, gastronomical energy, with giant white tufts of hair gelled rising like flames from her head, Burrell would go on to host nine seasons of “Secrets of a Restaurant Chef,” with two nominations for Emmy’s, and to co-host “Worst Cooks in America.” She appeared on a bevy of other Food Network shows along the way.
This week, we learned Burrell’s death was by her own hand. She’s not the first celebrity to take her life. There’s Kurt Cobain, Robin Williams and many in between. She’s not even the first famous chef. Troubled sojourner Anthony Bourdain springs to mind.
That a growing epidemic of self harm encompasses even the powerful and famous is not surprising. The mind is both an ingenuous and dangerous thing — sometimes in equal measure, such that the more genius it is, the more dangerous it is.
High performers are often high performers because of internal pressure they place on themselves. Many fear, and feel, perceived failure intensely. What happens when the dopamine, money and fame fades? What happens when someone whose identity is wrapped up in winning starts losing? Things can spiral.
Suicide, writ large, is an increasingly troubling problem. Since the year 2000, rates have increased by nearly 40 percent. 49,000 Americans died by suicide in 2023, according to the Center for Disease Control. That’s one death every 11 minutes. What’s more, the CDC reports that 12.8 million people seriously considered taking their own life that year and 1.5 million made an attempt.
These are people you know — colleagues, neighbors, family members. Maybe you are among them. Burrell’s death is an outlier in one respect. 80 percent of all suicide deaths are men.
Often we have no idea what people are up against. Relationships falling apart. Financial strain. Questions about their own worth and purpose.
Things are more convenient than ever before and people are more frustrated than ever before. We have access to more information than ever before and people are more confused than ever before. We are more connected to each other than ever before and yet people are lonelier than ever before. We are more prosperous than ever before as a society and yet people feel left behind and empty.
There is an increasing tendency toward a deficiency mindset in America — one that focuses on what is lacking in our lives, the bad in ourselves, versus our own abundance and goodness.
The social media era stokes this mindset. Now we don’t just have to keep up with the Jones next door. We get to see the airbrushed lives of people across the globe. These platforms hold up the false veneer of outwardly perfect lives. They hide much of what is real, leaving hurting people feeling alone in a crowd and defective. They also distract us from finding and exercising our true purpose. The lies of the mind take root. The voice that says “you’re a failure” festers.
We’re not failures. You’re not a failure. We were made in God’s image for God’s glory.
The old saying “be kind to others, you never know what they’re going through,” seems trite, but it’s true. There’s demon battling going on all around us. There are extremely successful people you know that have bought into self loathing. There are extremely unlovable people you know who are the ones most in need of love.
Mankind was not meant to face the darkness alone. Invest in other people. Go beyond the surface. Coincidentally, a focus on building others up, instead of tearing yourself down, is great therapy and a good way to find purpose.
Be kind to yourself, and others.
Russ Latino
