GIADA De Laurentiis has revealed she was left in tears after comments made about her career by a controversial fellow chef.
The Food Network favourite, 54, opened up about her run in with the chef when she asked him to write a foreword for her first cookbook, Everyday Italian: 125 Simple and Delicious Recipes, back in 2005.
Giana revealed Mario insinuated she only got famous for her “big boobs”[/caption]
Shamed Mario Batali left Giana in tears over cruel comments meant for the forward of her book[/caption]
After working with the acclaimed star for years, Giana admits that she asked Mario Batali to write her forward as, at the time, it would be seen as a stamp of approval for the up-and-coming star.
However, while he agreed, what she got back left her crying over its insinuations.
“When I read it, I cried because I realised he’s basically saying that I’ve gotten to where I’ve gotten, and I’ve had this little bit of success that I had, because I have big boobs,” she told podcast On The Menu.
“And that if he had boobs, he would even be much further.”
When shocked host Samah Dada asked her if that was what he actually wrote, she said: “Yes, because I’m like, a joke, right?
“To him, I was like a little bit of a joke, and so I called my editor, and I was in tears. I’m like, ‘clearly I can’t use this!’ So now what do I do?”
Eventually, her team wrote something on his behalf, before sending it to him for approval, which he did.
“We rewrote it, but I will never forget that that’s basically what a lot of people figured, and so that’s why they’re watching her.”
At one point Mario Batali was a dominant face in the Italian food business, thanks to his restaurant Babbo Ristorante e Enoteca in New York City.
He was widely praised for bringing simplicity and style to gourmet dishes, releasing over a dozen cookbooks in his career.
He later became a regular face on The Chew and Iron Chef, and between 1996 and 2004 ran his own show on the Food Network, Malto Mario.
However, his career dramatically stalled in 2017 when four women accused Batali of sexual harassment and assault in an exposé by Eater New York.
The article detailed “inappropriate touching in a pattern of behavior that spans at least two decades”, more more than two dozen women commenting on their experiences with him.
The article led to more women coming forward, and three days later he was fired from his position on the Food Network.
Target later quickly removed his products from their shelves, and he took a leave of absence from his position at Batali & Bastianich Hospitality Group in light of the claims.
In May 2018, a 60 Seconds special, which aired on CBS, came with more claims against Batali, including the allegation he was branded the “Red Menace” for his behavior towards female staff at New York’s The Spotted Pig, a bar he was an investor in.
In a newsletter addressing the controversies, Batali stated: “I have made many mistakes and I am so very sorry that I have disappointed my friends, my family, my fans and my team.
“My behavior was wrong and there are no excuses. I take full responsibility.”
In 2021, Batali and his company settled a four-year sexual harassment probe by New York’s attorney general’s office to the tune of $600,000 across 20 of his former employees.
Two more settlements were made in 2022 to women in the Boston area who had also filed sexual harassment claims against him.
Giana has been building her career on Italian based recipes for over 20 years[/caption]
Batali has made several settlements in the wake of his past behavior[/caption]
Giana has been on the rise as one of the faces of Italian cooking[/caption]
