Nancy Putkoski is a common woman who became famous after her marriage with Anthony Bourdain and the drama revolving around their divorce. Anthony Bourdain was a well-known chef and TV personality.
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Meeting Anthony
Other than the fact that Nancy and Anthony went to the same high school, there is no public information available about her childhood. It is assumed that Nancy did not have any notable boyfriends before she got into a relationship with Anthony. There is no concrete information on how many years she knew Anthony before she started to date him.
Nancy met Anthony in high school. They had been dating for several years before they got married in 1986. In an interview with Daily Life Australia, Anthony described how it felt to meet Nancy, “At 13 I was an angry and alienated teenager. I was loved, no one ever beat me, but I resented the normalcy of our household. At high school I fell in with your typical bad crowd but I also fell in love with Nancy Putkoski. She was a bad girl, older than me, part of a druggy crowd, and I was smitten. I graduated a year early so I could follow her to Vassar College [in upstate New York]. Up until that point Vassar had been an elite university for women, but they had just started admitting men and so when I arrived at 17, I found myself a rarity.
I was an unprepared, immature young man in the company of very many female wolves, who pretty much taught me the way of the world. Nancy and I spent over two decades together, either as a couple or married. She was my partner in crime, my wife, and before that my girlfriend. There was plenty of love there. We went through a lot of times, many of them great, many of them bad. It's that simple - or that complicated.”
Trouble in Paradise
They stayed married together for 20 years before getting a divorce in 2005. They informally got separated in 2004 but the divorce was finalized only in 2005. It is speculated that the problems in their marriage started to increase since 2000. Anthony said that he knew that his marriage was falling apart but he did not have time to work on it because of the time he had to dedicate to his growing career. The cracks in their marriage soon became large holes that drowned their union. They did not have any children together. Anthony said that he was not ready to become a father at the time because he was not able to focus on anything but his career. Anthony’s extensive travelling for his work appearances was cited as the main cause for the break up.
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Traveling Husband
It was reported that Anthony had to spend almost 250 days in a year away from his family because of his TV career. The separation tore apart the family because they hardly got to spend quality time together. Nancy was tired of being home alone without a husband to comfort her. While he was out having adventures around the world, she was stuck back at home and very lonely. Anthony’s long trips from home started when he was writing a book called ‘Kitchen Confidential’. The work on the book and his TV tour show opened travel opportunities that he could not deny. No one in his position would deny the chance to film different cultures around the world. It was an important cause and Anthony felt so strongly about it, he was willing to risk upsetting his wife. Anthony’s passion for his work caused his relationship to go down hill. By the time the book got published, his marriage was already on the rocks. To cope with his marriage problems, Anthony started to take drugs. Even though he was choosing his career over his wife, he still felt horrible about it and needed the comfort of drugs to calm himself down.
Photo Controversy
In 2011, a picture of Anthony swimming in a pool naked with another man got out in the media. It became the talk of the town as people speculated the reason behind the photo. The other man in the picture was his sous chef, Steven Temple. He was very close to Steven and mentioned that he was one of his very close friends. No other such pictures of him were leaked, it was just a single photo. The picture was taken by Nancy in 1999. It was assumed by many that Nancy was trying to get back at him for their divorce by leaking such a picture to stir up controversy. There were a few rumors about him being secretly gay. But without any proof, the gossip died immediately. Anthony was not surprised about the picture when questioned about it. He said that he had never seen the picture but he remembered the day it was taken. He said that Nancy took the picture in her camera and never developed or printed it when they were together. Nancy did not give any interview or make any comment in the news about the picture. The media wouldn’t stop speculating that she leaked the picture as revenge. The magazine that published the picture as their cover page did not reveal how they got the picture.
Moving On
Two years after the divorce, Anthony was able to move on and married again. In the gap between his marriages, he dated two different women. Nancy stayed single for a long time and eventually disappeared from the microscope of the media. There are no public details available as to where she is or whether she ever got married again.
Despite the controversy regarding the photo of Anthony and another man, it was reported that Nancy had a good relationship with Anthony after their divorce. They did not have any kids with each other so they did not have to deal with any nasty custody battles. They were able to stay civil with each other and wish each other the best.
Last Modified: Mar 13, 2020
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