A food blogger who inspired the 2009 film Julie & Julia has died at the age of 49.
Julie Powell became an Internet star after taking on the challenge of making every recipe in Julia Child’s book, Mastering The Art of French Cooking.
Her challenge led to a book and blockbuster contract with Amy Adams and Meryl Streep.
Powell died of cardiac arrest at her home in upstate New York – and friends have described her as a “brilliant writer and a bold and original person.”
Her editor Judy Clain said, “We are sending our deepest condolences to all who have known and loved Julie, both personally and through the deep bonds she has forged with readers of her memoirs.”
After writing her 2005 hit memoir Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen, Powell appeared in Food Network’s Iron Chef America and The Martha Stewart Show.
He went on to write for The New York Times, Bon Appétit and Food & Wine and twice won the James Beard Award.
Powell also received an honorary degree from Le Cordon Blue in Paris, the school Julia Child attended in 1950.
In 2009, Powell released her second book, titled Cleaving: A Story of Marriage, Meat and Obsession, in which she revealed she was having an affair.
She also delved into her pain of loving two men at the same time, her passion for sadomasochism, and even a self-punishing sex attack with a stranger.
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She began her relationship in 2004 while she was putting the finishing touches on her first book.
In 2006, Powell got an apprenticeship in a butcher’s shop and explained in her book that her experience with slicing meat actually led her to eat less.
As a result, she became an advocate of animals raised and slaughtered in a humane way for human consumption.
Powell leaves her husband, Eric.