Anne Burrell’s husband, Stuart Claxton, has been seen publicly for the first time since the famed chef’s tragic death.
Claxton was photographed outside of Burrell’s private wake Friday in New York City looking downcast in a blue suit jacket as he attended the somber viewing.
The marketing exec was joined by over 100 of Burrell’s loved ones at Frank E. Campbell Funeral Home on Madison Avenue as they mourned the less of the Food Network star.
Celebrity chefs Scott Conant, Amanda Freitag and Marc Murphy were in attendance, as well as Kelly Bensimon and Carson Kressley.
A source told The Post that while the mood was solemn, friends whispered to one another that Burrell would want them to be smiling and laughing.
Claxton — who married Burrell in October 2021 — discovered his wife’s unconscious body on the shower floor, surrounded by pills, on the morning of June 17.
While he has yet to publicly address her death, her family did issue a collective statement shortly after the news broke.
“Anne was a beloved wife, sister, daughter, stepmother and friend — her smile lit up every room she entered,” the statement read.
“Anne’s light radiated far beyond those she knew, touching millions across the world. Though she is no longer with us, her warmth, spirit and boundless love remain eternal.”
After finding Burrell’s body in their Brooklyn home, Claxton called 911 under the belief that she had gone into cardiac arrest. He was instructed to perform CPR.
When first responders arrived, they pronounced her dead at the scene.
The Food Network star spent her last night alive having a “blast” at an improv show at The Second City New York.
Burrell’s cause of death remains under investigation. Officials are still awaiting a toxicology screening, law enforcement sources told The Post.
Just a few months before her shocking death at age 55, Burrell gushed over settling down with Claxton after decades of living a “rock star chef life.”
When Burrell stopped by Tori Spelling’s “misSPELLING” podcast in March, she detailed giving the dating app Bumble a try in her late 40s.
The “Worst Cooks in America” mentor said she “enjoyed” the dating app experience, which prompted Spelling, 52, to ask what took her “so long” to give it a try.
“I was living my best life. I was living the rock star chef life,” Burrell replied.
“I was working a lot, and I had a great social life. But I just started to feel like, ‘All right, you’re getting a little old to keep on doing this. What are we doing? Where are we going in life?’”
Burrell explained that she had always told herself she would not get married until she felt like she had “accomplished stuff” and had “something in life to share.”
She added that having children was never on her “radar,” noting that she loved being an aunt to her nieces and nephews.
“Stuart has a son, so now I’m a stepmom,” she said of Javier, 20, calling that the “perfect amount of parenting time.”
Read the full article here
