UPDATE: The death of celebrity chef Anne Burrell is now being investigated as a possible overdose, law enforcement officials confirmed. The 54-year-old Food Network star was found unresponsive in her apartment in Brooklyn early the morning of June 17, 2025.
According to an internal document viewed by The New York Times, “The document said Ms. Burrell, who was 55, had been ‘discovered in the shower unconscious and unresponsive surrounded by approximately (100) assorted pills.’ Emergency medical workers who responded to a 911 call pronounced her dead at the scene.”
New reports reveal Burrell had been out with friends the night before her death. According to surveillance footage and witness accounts cited by Entertainment Now and E! News, Burrell appeared intoxicated but in good spirits. Authorities say she returned home shortly before midnight.
The New York Times also noted that: “A spokeswoman for the city medical examiner’s office said Friday that an autopsy had been completed, but that any findings on the cause and manner of Ms. Burrell’s death were still pending.” Officials continue to stress that no foul play is suspected.
Chef Anne Burrell was known for her love of life, making her sudden death this week a shock to fans and friends alike.“She made everything fun. She was a true force of nature,” a friend told The Post. “Her personality was so big.”
The 55-year-old Food Network star, best known for hosting Worst Cooks in America for 15 years, was found unresponsive at her Brooklyn home on the morning of June 17, 2025. She reportedly suffered cardiac arrest, and sources said pills were found near her body.
Friends remember the beloved chef as the “life of every party” and someone who brought energy and joy wherever she went.
At the height of her Food Network fame — rising alongside stars like Giada De Laurentiis, Alton Brown, and Ina Garten — one longtime friend recalled that, for Burrell, the spotlight also brought its share of struggles.
“I know she kind of struggled — once she was on TV and was on her way to be a TV celebrity chef,” the friend told Page Six.
“She was famous, she was doing the food and wine circuit stuff. She was busy — I kind of felt like she wasn’t totally happy,” the friend continued. “People with big personalities sometimes mask things.”
Burrell grew up near Syracuse and had a deep admiration for Julia Child. At 23, she enrolled at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. She made her TV debut in 2008 with the Food Network show Secrets of a Restaurant Chef. Two years later, she teamed up with chef Beau MacMillan to launch Worst Cooks in America, a competition that quickly became a hit with home cooks across the country.
According to a friend, Anne’s on-screen charm was a true reflection of who she was in real life.
Burrell became a regular face on Food Network and, in 2017, opened a Mediterranean restaurant called Phil & Anne’s Good Time Lounge in Brooklyn with her friend Phil Casaceli. However, their friendship quickly fell apart, and they stopped speaking except through lawyers. The restaurant closed less than a year later, in April 2018. Balancing the restaurant and her TV career was likely very difficult for her.
Burrell was known for her hard work and love of fun. At the height of her fame, it was more rewarding for her to appear at food festivals than to spend long nights running a restaurant.
Friends say she loved to party and was always up for a night out.
In 2018, she met Stuart Claxton on the dating app Bumble. They got engaged in 2020 and married in October 2021 at Windridge Estates Red Barn 20 in her hometown of Cazenovia, New York.
A friend shared that Burrell’s life wasn’t as perfect as it seemed and that she often struggled with deep loneliness. Salkin recalled that Burrell once opened up about substance abuse being a problem in her family, saying she grew up around alcoholism.
