Celebrity chef Duff Goldman detailed his “complex relationship” with Anne Burrell in a lengthy tribute after her shocking death earlier this week.
“Anne and I shared a lively and sometimes sharp-witted rapport,” the “Ace of Cakes” star mentioned in an Instagram post celebrating their two-decade-long friendship.
Goldman recalled that when he first encountered Burrell around 2006, she was “dealing with some challenges,” prompting him to bake her a cake with the message, “Don’t let the bastards win.”
“She never did,” he noted.
Goldman, 50, revealed at some point their paths “drifted,” but he never knew why.
“I always hoped that wherever she was, Anne was doing well and was finding some happiness,” he wrote.
The author of “Super Good Baking for Kids” added that a few years ago, he had an unexpected meet-up with Burrell at a charity event he attended with his daughter.
“Now, at this point we hadn’t spoken in years, and I won’t go into what we talked about but I will say that that conversation left my heart lifted and full of light, for it truly seemed to me that Anne really had found a measure of happiness and love,” he shared.
Goldman said that Burrell was “as tough as they come, but when you got past the armor there was a depth of compassion and kindness that was absolutely beautiful.”
He added, “My heart sings when I think of the love and tranquility that it seems Anne had found recently, and her genuine smile for my daughter and me in that lobby are what makes this tragedy just a little more bearable.”
Burrell died at her Brooklyn, NY, home on Tuesday morning at age 55.
Sources confirmed to the Post that her husband, Stuart Claxton, discovered the celebrity chef unconscious on the shower floor, alongside dozens of pills.
The sources added that it is premature to speculate on whether the pills that were found next to her body played any role.
A New York City Fire Department spokesperson told Page Six that a 911 caller claimed she had gone into “cardiac arrest.” Officers pronounced her dead at the scene.
An investigation surrounding Burrell’s death, including her cause of death, is ongoing.
Other chefs, including Bobby Flay and Rachael Ray, have shared their shock at Burrell’s untimely passing.
Her family released a statement calling the culinary personality a “beloved wife, sister, daughter, stepmother, and friend.”
