Anne Burrell, a mainstay on The Food Network, was found dead in her New York City home late Tuesday.
The Food Network, where Burrell began her two-decade television career on “Iron Chef America” and went on to other shows including “Worst Cooks in America”, confirmed her death.
The cause was not immediately clear, and medical examiners were set to conduct an autopsy, according to the Associated Press (AP).
Police were called to her address before 8 a.m. Tuesday and found an unresponsive woman who was soon pronounced dead. The police department did not release the woman’s name, but records show it was Burrell’s address, according to an AP report.
“Anne was a remarkable person and culinary talent — teaching, competing and always sharing the importance of food in her life and the joy that a delicious meal can bring,” the network said in a statement.
Known for her bold and flavorful but not overly fancy dishes, and for her spiky platinum-blonde hairdo, Burrell and various co-hosts on “Worst Cooks in America” led teams of kitchen-challenged people through a crash course in savory self-improvement.
Though known as one of the best chefs in the world, Burrell had a passion for teaching people how to cook.
“If people want to learn, I absolutely love to teach them,” she said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” in 2020. “It’s just them breaking bad habits and getting out of their own way.”
Burrell was doing what she loved behind the camera as recently as April, making chicken Milanese cutlets topped with escarole salad in one of her many appearances on NBC’s “Today” show.
She also recently faced off against other top chefs on the Food Network’s “House of Knives” earlier in the spring.
She was also enjoying her new hobby of improv comedy the night before she died, according to sources.
On Monday, June 16, she performed an improv show at The Second City New York in Brooklyn. The show was the finale of her course of improv classes, per her Instagram.
“Everyone said she was so great last night and so happy,” a source told PEOPLE Magazine.
A separate source who was with her at the improv show confirms she “was in great spirits last night during and after the improv show. Typical fun, outgoing Anne, having a blast.”
Tributes from across the culinary world have poured in over her shocking and untimely death.
Burrell’s former “Worst Cooks in America co-host, Tyler Florence took to Instagram sharing, “She was one of the brightest. There’s a new star in the sky tonight. I see you Anne. With all your sparkle, looking down. Thank you for sharing your gift with us. We’re all lucky.”
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Celebrity chef Carla Hall remembered Anne as “fierce chef and instructor—rocking her custom skirts, mismatched socks, and that unforgettable big smile.”
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She added, “Anne, you brought so much heart and heat to every kitchen.”
Burrell is survived by her husband Stuart Claxton, and his son, Javier, as well as her mother, Marlene, and sister, Jane, her children Isabella, Amelia and Nicolas, and her brother Ben.
Her cause of death remains unclear.