Newly released police records show that a handwritten “suicide note” dated the morning of her death was discovered in the Brooklyn home of celebrity chef Anne Burrell, adding new details to the circumstances surrounding her death at age 55.
According to a New York Police Department report obtained by PEOPLE, an investigator found the note in the master bedroom of Burrell’s home on June 17, 2025.
Several diary entries described as “suicidal” were also discovered on a bed in the same room.
The report states that in the early hours of that morning, a person identified as someone “married to Anne” noticed that the bed was made, which was described as unusual.
The individual, later confirmed to be Burrell’s husband, Stuart Claxton, found her on the bathroom floor “with a pile of over-the-counter pills on the floor.”
He tried to wake her up by shaking her and slapping her before calling 911 when she didn’t respond.
Claxton told police that his wife had “never attempted suicide in the past” and had “never talked about it,” adding that she showed no signs that she might harm herself.
Emergency services were called at around 7.50am local time after concerns were raised that Burrell had gone into cardiac arrest.
Police later confirmed that she was found “unconscious and unresponsive” and she was pronounced dead at the scene.
In July 2025, Burrell’s death was officially ruled a suicide.
The New York City medical examiner’s office said the cause of death was “acute intoxication due to the combined effects of diphenhydramine, ethanol, cetirizine and amphetamine.”
The New York Times later reported that she was found surrounded by approximately 100 assorted pills, citing internal police documents.
An NYPD spokesperson also confirmed that emergency medical personnel found her unresponsive at her home and pronounced her dead.
Burrell, best known as a long-time star in the America’s Worst Cooks on Food Network, I met Claxton on the dating app Bumble in 2018.
They married in October 2021.
She is survived by her husband and son Javier, as well as her mother Marlene, her sister Jane, Jane’s children Isabella, Amelia and Nicolas, and her brother Ben.
