Widow of celebrated chef can’t explain apparent suicide

GENEVA – The widow of celebrated Swiss-French chef Benoit Violier says in a published interview that she has no explanation for his apparent suicide, sharply denying allegations that financial troubles were to blame.

Brigitte Violier explained her decision along with restaurant investors and executives to reopen the three-star Restaurant de l’Hotel de Ville in the town of Crissier, near Lausanne, less than two days after her husband died Jan. 31 of what police called a likely self-inflicted gunshot.

In an interview published Wednesday in Swiss newspaper L’Illustre, Violier said neither she nor friends had noticed any strange behaviour from the chef before his death, adding, “There’s no rational explanation.”

She called “100 per cent false” a report by magazine Bilan that the chef had become ensnared in a financial swindle involving rare wines.