EXCLUSIVE: Anne Burrell's 'Rock Star' Life Resurfaces As Fears Rise Tragic TV Chef Ended Her Days Another Sad Drugs Casualty Who Overdosed on Pills
Anne Burrell insisted she had given up her wild ways.
June 24 2025, Published 10:00 a.m. ET
Anne Burrell insisted she was finally ready to settle down after years of living the "rock star chef life."
But RadarOnline.com can reveal her inner circle are now questioning whether she really gave up wild living as fears mount she was hiding a secret pills addiction that may have killed the beloved TV chef.
Hellraising Past
The TV chef said she had seen it all.
Her insistence she had given up her "rock star" lifestyle, the celebrated Food Network star was found dead in her Brooklyn apartment by her husband – slumped on her shower floor surrounded pills.
The 55-year-old Worst Cooks in America host and Secrets of a Restaurant Chef star was discovered unconscious at around 7:50am on Tuesday, June 17.
Emergency responders from the New York Fire Department confirmed they arrived following a report of cardiac arrest, though the official cause of death is still under investigation by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
In a resurfaced interview on misSPELLING, the podcast hosted by longtime friend Tori Spelling, Burrell opened up about meeting her husband Stuart Claxton, 52, on a dating app in her late 40s and embracing a new chapter.
"I was like, living the rock star chef life," she said. "I was working a lot, and I had a great social life. I just started to feel like, all right, you're getting a little old to keep on doing this."
But our source said: "Anne's friends now fear her statement she had given up wild living was all a shame to cover up years of addiction.
"It seems she was hiding a disastrous addiction to prescription pills while putting on a front she was leading a wholesome life."
Burrell married Claxton on October 16, 2021, in a fall-themed wedding in Cazenovia, New York, near where she grew up. Along with marriage came stepmotherhood to Claxton’s 22-year-old son, Javier.
"Being a stepmom is the perfect amount of parenting for me," she also told Spelling on her podcast.
Pills Fear
Pals are scared she was hiding her pain with a tablets addiction.
Her sudden death has left colleagues and friends stunned.
Chef Elizabeth Falkner, 59, who had dinner with Burrell at Soho House in Manhattan on June 9, said the news felt surreal.
"I think Anne looks like she’s in pretty decent shape these days, so it’s kind of surprising to me," she said. "The culinary family is like family, so this hurts a lot of us."
Falkner, who has appeared on Top Chef and Iron Chef, hosted the June 9 dinner where Burrell cooked for a close group of friends.
"She brought her husband and we just had such a good time," she added. "We were like, 'Let's just make a point of talking and texting more often.'"
Burrell’s final message to Falkner came the next morning.
"She's like, 'Thanks so much for inviting us. It was a truly lovely time and very delicious,'" Falkner recalled.
Loving Tributes
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Burrell was beloved by the pals she partied with.
Falkner also described Burrell as "the real deal," calling her death "tragic."
She said: "The thing about Anne Burrell is she wasn't only a TV chef. She was a really good cook, really good chef. She educated a lot of people. She had mad skills.
"She had a certain kind of sparkle."
Sources close to Burrell say the chef had also struggled with exhaustion in recent months but appeared upbeat in public.
One industry colleague who asked not to be named said: "She had slowed down a little but was still constantly working – private events, hosting, doing podcast interviews. Anne was high energy, always."
Burrell previously spoke at the City Harvest gala in April about her marriage.
"October will be four years," she said. "It seems like it’s been four minutes... I feel like it's settled into married life days which I really enjoy."
Though authorities have yet to confirm whether substances played a role in her death, a source within the NYPD said "pill bottles were found nearby, but no foul play is suspected at this time."
