Val Kilmer Sparks Outrage After Calling Anthony Bourdain’s Suicide ‘Selfish’
Val Kilmer has called Anthony Bourdain’s suicide “selfish” in a lengthy Facebook post in which the actor tells his late friend, “You’ve given us cause to be so angry.”
“From every corner of the world you were loved. So selfish,” Kilmer wrote on Facebook on Friday. “You’ve given us cause to be so angry. A spiritual guide once told me suicide is the most selfish act a human can execute and I was confused but she explained there’s just no mental place further away from humanity and purpose than the hypnotized numbness that creates the false picture of despair, that forces the victim, unaware, to believe, life’s legacy is over.”
He added, “Those of us that knew you are shocked and angry and angry and angry selfishly angry, for what you just did to us… Oh Darkness. My prayer before the light breaks this morning of June 8th, is that it doesn’t ever again fool another warrior like you, who chased the hot slice of momentary satisfaction around the world 15 times, but found no reason for 16.”
See Video:Rose McGowan Mourns Anthony Bourdain in Tearful Video: 'We Needed You'
Kilmer also alludes to his own battle with throat cancer in his post.
“Would you have taken your life two years ago when like me you were unable to take in food and move it with your tongue over your taste buds because your tongue was too swollen?” he asked. “Is too swollen. I think and dream and plan on eating and tasting and enjoying every meal I’ve ever enjoyed and every meal I’ve learned to enjoy in my imagination, Altho I’ve never met a meal I didn’t like in the last 40 years except anything with too much cilantro. Was that it? You woke up and realized you were no longer hungry.”
People quickly turned to Twitter to comment on Kilmer’s post, shaming him for calling suicide “selfish.”
Also Read:Anthony Bourdain Mourned by Celebrity Chefs, Other Stars: 'Heartbroken'
It tells me so much about you that in this moment you shame him. The only appropriate response is love. Unfollowing…
— …….. …… (@jennnsolo) June 8, 2018
Suicide is not selfish. The only reason people suicide is to escape the pain.
This tweet is just awful.— Shireen (@ok2banintrovert) June 8, 2018
Suicide is not selfish. It’s a very personal battle within. Unfortunately, mental illness does not allow you to look past your sorrow and pain. It’s not done out of malice.
— Barbi (@sum1star) June 8, 2018
@valkilmer when I tried to take my own life, I truly felt what I was planning was the most unselfish thing. Everyone would be much happier when I was gone. The veil of delusion is at bottom & only if you make it back to the surface do you realize how selfish it is. 2U
— Chris Bagby (@northwestblnde) June 8, 2018
How can you be mad at someone who killed themselves? Because they were selfish for ending their life? Is it not selfish that you would rather they live in pain than decide to end that pain? Who do you think suffered more? The guy who ended his life or the people who had to mourn?
— Paul Rinn (@PaulRinn) June 8, 2018
Lena Dunham weighed in on the matter of blaming those who commit suicide, though did not mention Kilmer.
People don’t commit suicide because of an event, a person or a thing. You wouldn’t blame a person for someone else’s cancer, nor call someone weak for developing it. Only when we start talking about depression as a disease will stigma be erased.
— ???? Lena Dunham ???? (@lenadunham) June 8, 2018
Bourdain died on Friday at age 61 of suicide. According to the BBC, Bourdain’s body was found in a hotel room in a Strasbourg, France, where he was shooting an episode for CNN’s “Parts Unknown,” now in its 11th season. Many stars took the opportunity to note that Bourdain’s death came just days after that of fashion designer Kate Spade, also by suicide, and underscored the crippling effects of depression.
“You found and showed us pockets of freedom from individuals around the world, from your pirate ship of tv and with a crew of brilliant writers producers camera and sound people, assistants, executives and lawyers who saw you clearly and loved you dearly, and went the extra mile on paper, to enable you to walk there, in the rain, before daylight, and waiting for the sun, reflect quietly on the pageantry, about to unfold,” concluded Kilmer. “You could have and should have given it one more shot. Sometimes we must live in service to another’s life and live with no hope of equality. Life isn’t fair that way. Who says you had a right to take away all this love from us so soon? Oh the darkness. The darkness on the edge of town. ‘There’s a darkness in the edge of town…’ you left too soon my friend. I fell asleep to watching you enjoy Uruguay last night. It was a rerun but I always find something I didn’t see before… you left too soon. And I’m going to prove it…”
See Kilmer’s Facebook post below.
Video: Remembering Anthony Bourdain
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