Anthony Bourdain's mother says she remembers her son as "feisty and very talented," telling NBC's "Today" show on Monday she last heard from him in a Mother's Day email.
Gladys Bourdain said she had no indication that he was considering suicide.
"Not a one, ever," she told the morning program.
Her son was a "lover of people of all kinds" who genuinely was the person he appeared to be on TV, she added.
"He didn't disguise anything or take on any act of persona… he was who he was, and it was out there for everyone to see," she said.
"He came back from his first summer in Provincetown as a dishwasher, and then one of the cooks burned himself or cut himself so badly he had to stop work and Tony, who had just been observing, filled in.
"And when he came back at the end of that summer, we talked about and since he had so little interest in his college career, I suggested the Culinary Institute and that's how it all started," she added.
On Friday, Stunned chefs, politicians, and celebrities mourned his death.
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