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Who Is Nancy Putkoski, Anthony Bourdain’s First Wife · Stories Today

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  Speaker 1: Nancy Putkoski is Anthony Bourdain's first wife. The two were
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  Speaker 1: high school sweethearts from New Jersey who married in 1985
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  Speaker 1: and split in 2005 after 20 years. She has always
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  Speaker 1: kept out of the limelight, and Amelia Jones plays her
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  Speaker 1: in the 2026 film Tony. Most people know Anthony Bourdain
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  Speaker 1: as the chef who ate his way round the world
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  Speaker 1: on telly. Fewer know the woman who was there first. Nancy.
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  Speaker 1: Putkoski at a glance. Detail information. School Dwight Englewood, New Jersey.
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  Speaker 1: College Vassar. College. Married 1985-2005. Children none. Played by Amelia
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  Speaker 1: Jones in Tony, 2026, How Nancy Putkoski and Anthony Bourdain met.
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  Speaker 1: It all began at Dwight Englewood, a private school in
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  Speaker 1: northern New Jersey. Nancy was older than Bourdain and a
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  Speaker 1: year ahead of him. In a 2012 chat with Daily Life,
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  Speaker 1: he called her a bad girl, who was part of
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  Speaker 1: a druggie crowd, and he was smitten. She was my
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  Speaker 1: partner in crime, my wife, and before that my girlfriend,
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  Speaker 1: he said. When Nancy left for Vassar College in New York,
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  Speaker 1: Bourdain finished school early, in 1973, and followed her. Vassar
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  Speaker 1: had been a women's college and had only just started
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  Speaker 1: taking men, so he was a rare sight on campus
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  Speaker 1: at 17. After two years, he swapped it for the
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  Speaker 1: Culinary Institute of America, just 15 minutes away. Graduating in 1978.
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  Speaker 1: Profile sites such as Tuco say Nancy was born on
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  Speaker 1: 8 April 1955 in Fort Lee, New Jersey, but she
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  Speaker 1: has never confirmed it. Summers in Provincetown. The couple spent
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  Speaker 1: their student. Summers in Provincetown, an arty seaside town on
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  Speaker 1: Cape Cod. Bourdain worked in seafood kitchens. There, and that's
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  Speaker 1: where he fell for cooking. Nancy worked at Spiritus Pizza
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  Speaker 1: and was a firm favorite there. The New York Times
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  Speaker 1: revisited those days in 2026, reporting that the pair had
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  Speaker 1: dated on and off at school. They were high school sweethearts,
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  Speaker 1: Spiritus founder John Yingling said. Nancy declined an interview but
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  Speaker 1: shared memories by email. She said they subsisted on food.
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  Speaker 1: From local year-round spots like Tips for Topson, the Portuguese
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  Speaker 1: Bakery and Cookies Tap, Kale, Soup with Linguiça, lots of pizza,
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  Speaker 1: and cooking at home. We saved our money for going
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  Speaker 1: out to their local bars, piggies and the Governor Bradford. Other, stuff,
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  Speaker 1: and rent. Also read, why is Katie Piper trending? Inside
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  Speaker 1: her emotional response to NTA trolls. life as husband and wife.
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  Speaker 1: In 1978, they moved into a rent-controlled flat on Riverside
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  Speaker 1: Drive in Manhattan. Seven years later, they married. In his
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  Speaker 1: 2001 book A Cook's Tour, Bourdain looked back on their
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  Speaker 1: two-week honeymoon in the French West Indies, which left us tanned, happy,
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  Speaker 1: totally in love with the island, and utterly broke. Drugs
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  Speaker 1: were part of it. Bourdain once compared their bond to
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  Speaker 1: the 1989 film. Drugstore Cowboy. That kind of love and
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  Speaker 1: codependency and sense of adventure, we were criminals. Together. A
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  Speaker 1: lot of our life was built around that, and happily so.
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  Speaker 1: Over time, things calmed. Down. Nights in meant takeaway and
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  Speaker 1: The Simpsons, with the odd Caribbean holiday. Then, in 2000, his.
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  Speaker 1: Memoir Kitchen Confidential became a bestseller. He dedicated it to Nancy.
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  Speaker 1: Why their marriage ended. A TV deal followed, and Nancy
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  Speaker 1: wasn't keen. In 2017, Bourdain told The New Yorker's Patrick
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  Speaker 1: Radden Keefe that she had identified television early on as
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  Speaker 1: an existential threat to the marriage. His first show ran
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  Speaker 1: for 35 episodes on the Food Network in 2002 and 2003. Nancy.
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  Speaker 1: Hovered at the edge of a few episodes and hated it.
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  Speaker 1: Your tango notes that the travel kept them apart. For
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  Speaker 1: long spells. In 2006, he told The Guardian that a
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: trip to Vietnam had changed him. She was. The love
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  Speaker 1: of my life. But everything changed, he said. I was ambitious,
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  Speaker 1: she was not, he. Told Keefe. There were things that
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  Speaker 1: I wanted, and I was willing to really hurt somebody
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  Speaker 1: to have. Them. They divorced in 2005, and years later
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  Speaker 1: he still called it the great betrayal, of his. Life.
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  Speaker 1: Nancy's view was softer. I'm big on shared experiences, which
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  Speaker 1: I'd thought had. Bulletproofed our partnerships, We'd been through an
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  Speaker 1: awful lot of stuff together, a lot of it not
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  Speaker 1: so great. A lot of it wonderful fun, she told Keefe.
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  Speaker 1: I just didn't anticipate how tricky success would be. She
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  Speaker 1: also said her ex was pretty dramatic. Also read, Harry
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: Styles and Zoe Kravitz's relationship. What their busy careers reveal
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  Speaker 1: about their private life. Bourdain's life after Nancy. After the split,
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  Speaker 1: Bourdain went to the Caribbean and, by his account, behaved recklessly.
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  Speaker 1: On 20 April 2007, he married Octavia Buzia and their daughter, Ariane,
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  Speaker 1: arrived that year. They separated in 2016, and he later
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  Speaker 1: dated Italian actress Asia Argento. Born in Manhattan on 25
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  Speaker 1: June 1956, Bourdain went on to host No Reservations and
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  Speaker 1: CNN's Parts Unknown. He died in France on 8 June 2018,
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  Speaker 1: aged 61, while filming A Life Away from the Spotlight.
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  Speaker 1: Nancy has never wanted fame. Keefe wrote that her ideal
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  Speaker 1: level was that of a Supreme Court. Justice. Almost nobody
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  Speaker 1: knows what you look like, but you always get the
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  Speaker 1: reservation you. Want. Mashed notes that she didn't speak on
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  Speaker 1: the record for Roadrunner, 2021, Morgan. Neville's documentary. She did
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  Speaker 1: help Laurie Woolever, his former assistant, with Bourdain, the. Definitive
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  Speaker 1: oral biography, 2021. Willever told Entertainment Weekly that Nancy, was hugely. Helpful,
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  Speaker 1: in finding his old friends. Speaking to El Pais in 2023,
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  Speaker 1: Willever said the family's. Involvement, was huge for me. Nancy
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  Speaker 1: put Koski on the big screen. A24' s Tony, directed by Matt. Johnson.
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  Speaker 1: follows a 19-year-old Bourdain, played by Dominic Sessa, over one
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  Speaker 1: Cape Cod summer. In style. Explains that Nancy is the
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  Speaker 1: reason Anthony heads to Provincetown. London-born Amelia Jones plays. Her,
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  Speaker 1: and the film reached UK cinemas in August 2026. Fakus. Q.
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  Speaker 1: Who is Nancy Putkoski? A. She's. Anthony Bourdain's first wife.
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  Speaker 1: They met at school in New Jersey and were married
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  Speaker 1: from 1985 to 2005. Q. How long were Nancy Putkoski
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  Speaker 1: and Anthony Bourdain married? A. 20 years, though their romance
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  Speaker 1: began back at school. Q. Did Nancy Putkoski have children? A. No,
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  Speaker 1: Bourdain's only child. Ariane was born in 2007 during his
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  Speaker 1: second marriage. Q. Why did Nancy Putkoski and Bourdain divorce? A.
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  Speaker 1: His TV work kept him away a lot. Nancy disliked
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  Speaker 1: fame and saw television as a threat. Q. Who plays
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  Speaker 1: Nancy Putkoski in the film Tony? A. Amelia Jones plays
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  Speaker 1: her in the 2026 A24 film. Q. Where is Nancy
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  Speaker 1: Putkoski now? A. She lives privately, with no known public
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  Speaker 1: social media.