Beautiful, strong and very outgoing, Ottavia Busia is an Italian mixed martial artist who shot into the limelight after she became Anthony Bourdain’s wife. Anthony Bourdain was one of the most popular celebrity chefs in America who was also an author and travel documentarian. Bourdain was very famous and loved by Americans for featuring in many programs which focused on the exploration of the human condition as well as international culture and cuisine. Unfortunately, the man killed himself in 2018, leaving his family and friends very distraught. In death, he became even more famous and his fame rubbed off on his wife, Ottavia.
It is noteworthy that even though she is more known as the wife of Anthony Bourdain, Ottavia is also known for being very sharp and skilled in mixed martial arts. Her social media pages are filled with photos of her training and showing her skills to the admiration of her many followers. We have been able to gather some facts about this woman for your reading pleasure.
Ottavia Busia’s Bio
The exact day and month in which Ottavia Busia was birthed have remained quite a mystery. However, we know that she was born in 1978. We have been able to decipher this because she is reported to be 22 years younger than Bourdain and since Bourdain was born in 1956, it means Ottavia was born 22 years later in 1978. She was born in Sardinia Island in Italy. According to her, she grew up with the rest of her family in Lombardy, a region in Italy.
Details about Ottavia Busia’s family has remained quite vague. The identities of her parents are not known just yet and it has not been confirmed if she has any siblings. A quick look through her Instagram page shows her posing for several pictures inside the gym with other mixed martial artists. She also has some photos of Anthony Bourdain. However, there are no images showing her parents or siblings.
The dearth of information about Ottavia Busia extends to her educational history. Details of where she had her elementary or high school education have remained in the dark. It is however believed that she had some form of formal education while growing up.
Who is her daughter?
Ottavia Busia has a daughter who is a product of her marriage to Anthony Bourdain. She is so fond and proud of her daughter named Ariane Bourdain; Ottavia shows off the girl occasionally on social media to the admiration of her followers.
Ariane Bourdain was born in 2007 shortly after her parents got married. The young lady now lives with her mother in New York. Ariane is interested in music. In fact, just a few months after Anthony Bourdain died, she performed live in her own concert. This was revealed in a post which Ottavia made on Instagram which showed Ariane on stage.
She wanted to be a dentist
Growing up in Italy, Ottavia Busia wanted to become a dentist and just live a private life. She started pursuing her dream career and was actually studying to become a dentist but things changed when she fell in love with an Irish rock band. She became so infatuated with the band that she decided to relocate to the USA just to follow the music group. Her life changed after that.
Busia worked in restaurants
After moving to America, Ottavia Busia began doing some restaurant jobs to keep herself going. Speaking about this period of her life in an interview, Ottavia revealed that she worked in different restaurants in New York City and steadily progressed on the job. She finally landed a job with the popular Geisha restaurant in New York and rose to become its general manager. It was while working at Geisha restaurant that she met Anthony Bourdain.
How she became Anthony Bourdain’s wife
While she was working at the Geisha restaurant, Ottavia became friendly with Eric Ripert who happened to be the consulting chef of the restaurant. Ripert was also a friend of Anthony Bourdain. Being their mutual friend, Ripert decided to introduce Ottavia to Bourdain because he felt that they would make a perfect match and he was right. Ottavia and Bourdain picked interest in each other immediately they set eyes on each other.
After getting introduced to each other by Ripert, Ottavia and Bourdain started going out on dates. Their first date was in cigar bar where they had a really great time together. After a few more dates, the lovebirds became so attached to each other that they decided to get matching chef’s knife tattoos.
Finally, after dating for some time, the couple tied the knot as husband and wife on the 20th day of April 2007. Shortly after their marriage, they had their daughter, Ariane.
She developed an interest in mixed martial arts
Ottavia Busia started practicing mixed martial arts in 2007 after the birth of her daughter. Her main aim was to regain her pre-pregnancy body as well as to develop some skills in self-defense. However, after training for some time in mixed martial arts, she completely fell in love with it and decided to do it full time.
According to Ottavia, after she finished her self-defense classes, she was hooked to MMA and found herself wanting more. She soon started training in jujitsu and has been doing very well ever since.
Her marriage fell apart in 2016
The marriage between Ottavia Busia and Anthony Bourdain was smooth for some years and the couple enjoyed a loving marital life. However, the strain of work and commitments on the part of Anthony Bourdain started causing problems. This was because the man was always on the move. He was always traveling to meet up with work schedules and didn’t really have time at all for his family. Bourdain himself acknowledged this. Sometimes, he was away from home for as many as 250 days in a year and his wife did not find this funny at all.
The strenuous work schedule of Bourdain put a serious strain on the relationship between him and his wife and finally in 2016, the couple parted ways. However, they were yet to formally effect a divorce before Anthony Bourdain died in 2018.
READ ALSO: Taina Marie Meléndez – Bio, Age, Family, Facts About Ozuna’s Wife
She is not Bourdain’s first wife
Before marrying Ottavia, Bourdain had once been married to a woman called Nancy Putkoski. The couple married in 1985 and got divorced in 2005. It was two years later (in 2007) that he married Ottavia.
After separating from Ottavia in 2016, Bourdain went on to befriend Asia Argento, an American actress. He was still dating her when he sadly passed away in 2018.
