{"id":564354,"date":"2025-11-11T21:08:18","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T21:08:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/564354\/"},"modified":"2025-11-11T21:08:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T21:08:18","slug":"popular-influencer-michael-duarte-known-as-foodwithbearhands-dies-in-horrible-incident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/564354\/","title":{"rendered":"Popular influencer Michael Duarte known as FoodWithBearHands dies in &#8216;horrible incident&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"author-section byline-plain\">By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/profile-696\/cydney-yeates.html\" class=\"author\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CYDNEY YEATES, US SENIOR TV WRITER<\/a> <\/p>\n<p class=\"byline-section\"> Published:  14:26 EST, 11 November 2025   |  Updated:  15:40 EST, 11 November 2025   <\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Food influencer Michael Duarte has died in what has been described as a &#8216;horrible incident.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The California-based social media star, who posted under the username @foodwithbearhands, passed away on November 8, days after celebrating his wedding anniversary.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">While the cause of Duarte&#8217;s death has yet to be announced, it has been claimed he died &#8216;in a horrible incident without warning&#8217; while traveling in <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/texas\/index.html\" id=\"mol-03dd8860-bf34-11f0-b016-79d59117b5a4\" rel=\"noopener\">Texas<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">News of Duarte&#8217;s passing was announced in a tribute from his talent agency, Alooma Media Group.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">In a statement, they said: &#8216;It is with profound sadness that we share the passing of our valued client and dear friend, Michael Duarte.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;He was a true and loyal partner, a trusted collaborator, and above all, a remarkable person. His passion, professionalism, and creativity left a lasting mark not only on our team but on everyone who had the privilege of working with him.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">A GoFundMe page has also been launched to cover funeral expenses, as well as bring Duarte back to California.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">According to the page, the money raised will also go towards making sure the internet personality&#8217;s wife Jessica and their daughter, Oakley, are both taken care of.<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-58aa1232a2004570\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/103794975-15281643-Popular_food_influencer_Michael_Duarte_known_as_foodwithbearhand-m-28_17628904090.jpeg\" height=\"434\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Popular food influencer Michael Duarte - known as foodwithbearhands - has died\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Popular food influencer Michael Duarte &#8211; known as foodwithbearhands &#8211; has died<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-fcc7e373f0d3aa84\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/103794491-15281643-The_social_media_star_died_on_November_8_following_a_horrible_in-a-2_176289053484.jpeg\" height=\"810\" width=\"634\" alt=\"The social media star died on November 8 following a 'horrible incident'\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">The social media star died on November 8 following a &#8216;horrible incident&#8217;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;We ask that you lift Michael&#8217;s family up in prayer during this extremely difficult time, especially for his six-year-old daughter Oakley, and his wife Jessica,&#8217; the website reads.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;If you are able to financially assist, please consider donating.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">At the time of writing, the GoFundMe has raised $61,367.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Duarte amassed a following of over 839,000 fans on Instagram with his cooking videos.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">He started posting cooking clips on social media during the pandemic as a hobby and continued to do so while helping to rebuild a restaurant.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;On my days off, I started posting food videos again \u2013 my first one was with my daughter,&#8217; he said in a biography shared on Instagram.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;That&#8217;s when I realized how happy creating content made me.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;Over time, I began to see it wasn&#8217;t just a hobby \u2013 it could be a business, something bigger than myself.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-78d2f93d332e092c\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/103794557-15281643-image-a-19_1762889572917.jpg\" height=\"475\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Duarte is survived by his daughter Oakley, six, and his wife Jessica (both pictured)\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Duarte is survived by his daughter Oakley, six, and his wife Jessica (both pictured)\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-e31e33190fa601e5\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/103794973-15281643-image-m-22_1762890206700.jpg\" height=\"877\" width=\"634\" alt=\"A GoFundMe page was launched to cover his funeral and to support his wife and daughter\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">A GoFundMe page was launched to cover his funeral and to support his wife and daughter<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Tributes have been flooding in following news of Duarte&#8217;s death.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Commenting on his pinned Instagram post, one said: &#8216;Love you man. I&#8217;m at a loss for words. Too young, too big a heart. We were supposed to do a video or something this week. Rest easy.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Another wrote: &#8216;Mike, rest in peace my dear friend. Thank you for all of your kind words throughout our time knowing each other&#8230; from making family meals at Ruth\u2019s to teaching me how to be a quarter of as good as you were with the video edits.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;I will be praying for your wife and daughter more than ever!&#8217;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>                    Share or comment on this article:<br \/>\n                        Popular influencer Michael Duarte known as FoodWithBearHands dies in &#8216;horrible incident&#8217;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By CYDNEY YEATES, US SENIOR TV WRITER Published: 14:26 EST, 11 November 2025 | Updated: 15:40 EST, 11&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":564355,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[557,92,388,12,369,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-564354","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-dailymail","10":"tag-lifestyle","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-texas","13":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115533114478578754","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=564354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/564355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=564354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=564354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=564354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}