A 2012 episode of No Reservations featuring Michael K. Williams and Anthony Bourdain has resurfaced, prompting fans to draw comparisons between the Wire star and travel show host who both battled their demons, and lost.
Williams, 54, died of a suspected overdose at his luxury Brooklyn apartment where he was found on Monday, next to drug paraphernalia. News of Bourdain's death was similarly shocking, after he committed suicide in a hotel room in France in June, 2018.
Both men had highly publicized battles with heroin and suffered from addiction and depression. Yet both were able to achieve greatness in their fields; with Williams putting in unforgettable performances as Omar in The Wire, Albert 'Chalky' White on the HBO series Boardwalk Empire and most recently as Montrose Freeman in Lovecraft Country.
Bourdain, similarly, shook the restauranting world with book Kitchen Confidential, about life as a chef in New York's restaurant scene, and went on to travel the world, connecting with people through food.
Both their losses were heavy felt.
In the video of them together on the show, the pair visit a now-extinct popular Caribbean restaurant in Crown Heights, Brooklyn to share a meal of ox tail, mac and cheese and callaloo.
Both Bourdain and Williams struggled with their mental health and addiction and were very vocal about their challenges
A Twitter user advocated for more awareness about the mental health and substance abuse challenges that Bourdain and William faced in life
Williams's co-star in the acclaimed series The Wire, Jamie Hector, pops in and energetically greets him.
'Wait a minute,' William says to Bourdain before he gets up and hugs Hector.
While Hector and William played enemies in the HBO show, they were friends in real life.
Hector paid his tribute to Williams in an Instagram post, sharing a picture of them at the Moving Mountains Award Presentation in 2017.
'One of the realest! Gone too soon. Hurt!!!'
Fans on Twitter shared their reactions to the video posted by James Crugnale,
'Thanks for sharing. Very sad that both these beautiful beings are gone,' said one.
Another advocated for more awareness about the mental health and substance abuse challenges that Bourdain and William faced in life.
'Mental health and addiction need more attention in this country and around the world. We need to get rid of the negative stigmas of these two. Both of these men and many others would still be alive today. Kate Spade, Robin Williams, the list goes on and on.'
Bourdain and Williams were very vocal about their struggles with addiction, recovery and relapse.
In this 2012 episode of Bourdain's show No Reservation, him and Michael K. Williams share a meal of ox tails, mac and cheese and callaloo at a Crown Height's restaurant
In the episode, Williams's co-star in The Wire, Jamie Hector (left) runs into him and Bourdain. Hector paid his tribute to Williams in an Instagram post
Twitter users shared their reactions to the resurfaced video of Bourdain and and Williams
Williams, who rose to fame international fame playing gay stick-up man Omar Little in The Wire, admitted to being at the highest point of his addiction while the show aired, and going in and out of clinics for drug treatment since he was 19 years old.
Earlier this year, he said he was seeking therapy.
'I just started therapy, you know, and really taking that seriously and starting to unpack, like you said, the critic in my head and what and how that has affected my- my actions, my responses to certain situations, my relationships,' he said in the Tamron Hall Show.
When promoting his movie Body Brokers, about a corrupted drug treatment clinic, he voiced his insecurities about recovery.
'Drugs and alcohol are not the problems, they're merely
