Why Giada De Laurentiis 'cried' because of disgraced ex-Food Network star Mario Batali
The former Food Network star appeared on Samah Dada's "On the Menu" YouTube show and detailed how she wanted the now-embattled Batali to pen the foreword for her debut cookbook "Everyday Italian" released in 2005.
"This is a person we're not supposed to talk about, but we're going to," De Laurentiis teased during the episode about Batali, once one of the most famous Italian chefs in the world.
De Laurentiis told Dada that she asked Batali to write the foreword because he was "a legend in the Italian space" and she "felt like his stamp of approval would've been huge for me."
Mario Batali exits restaurant business 15 months after sexual misconduct allegations
But the "Giada at Home" alum said she "cried" when she read it "because I realized, 'Oh, 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, and that if he had boobs, he would even be much further.'"
USA TODAY has reached out to reps for Batali for comment.
"He wrote that in the foreword?" Dada asked.
"Yes," De Laurentiis said, adding that Batali did it "because I'm, like, a joke, right? Like, to him, it was like a little bit of a joke." After reading it, De Laurentiis called her editor "in tears" and said, "Clearly, I can't use this. So now what do I do?" Her editor chose to have the foreword rewritten and sent to Batali for approval.
"That's basically what a lot of people figured. Cute girl with big boobs, so that's why they're watching her," De Laurentiis claimed people thought about her rise to fame. In 2023, De Laurentiis left her longtime home at the Food Network and now works primarily on her buzzy Italian food company Giadzy.
In the published version of "Everyday Italian," Batali still made references to De Laurentiis' appearance, writing that she caught his eye while he was watching the Food Network and stopped on her show of the same name.
"The first thing I noticed was that everything on the screen was beautiful — both the host and the food, which looked delicious and real and natural," Batali wrote.
"Then I noticed that she really knew what she was talking about. And I realized that despite her movie-star looks, Giada isn't on television because she's merely attractive; she's a real Italian girl who can cook," Batali continued. "I was hooked."
He also wrote that "it turns out that Giada is smart, Italian-speaking, and family-oriented — the three qualities my grandma hoped I'd find in a girl to marry. (Too late for that.) She's also a great cook, highly knowledgeable about food, and a huge amount of fun to be around — the three qualities I'd hope to find in a television partner."
Mario Batali admitted to sexual harassment of multiple women
Batali's downfall began in 2017 when the food website Eater New York posted a story featuring allegations by multiple anonymous women, including claims that he had groped their breasts or buttocks.
"I apologize to the people I have mistreated and hurt," Eater quoted him as saying at the time. "Although the identities of most of the individuals mentioned in these stories have not been revealed to me, much of the behavior described does, in fact, match up with ways I have acted."
"That behavior was wrong and there are no excuses," Batali continued. "I take full responsibility and am deeply sorry for any pain, humiliation or discomfort I have caused to my peers, employees, customers, friends and family." Reports of his alleged sexual misconduct prompted police investigations.
The internationally recognized chef was well-known to the general public after producing a plethora of cookbooks, launching a popular line of pasta sauces, opening his restaurants and making frequent TV appearances.
He starred on the Food Network series "Molto Mario" and boasted a co-host gig on the now-cancelled ABC daytime show "The Chew," which also featured chefs Carla Hall and Michael Symon, wellness expert Daphne Oz, and "What Not to Wear" alum Clinton Kelly.
Contributing: Nathan Bomey, Zlati Meyer
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