Giada De Laurentiis recalled a heartbreaking moment involving Mario Batali that she said shaped her opinion of him — and how he perceived her as a chef.
“This is a person we’re not supposed to talk about but I’m going to,” De Laurentiis, 54, said on a July episode of Samah Dada‘s On the Menu YouTube Show in a clip that was reposted to TikTok earlier this month.
De Laurentiis went on to recall the time that she was writing her first cookbook, Everyday Italian, in 2005 and she asked Batali, 64, to write a foreword.
“He’s really the main guy I had worked with. He’s a legend in the Italian space,” the former Food Network host explained. “I felt like his stamp of approval would’ve been huge for me.”
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After Batali agreed to write something, De Laurentiis was excited, until she saw his alleged inscription.
“When I read it, I cried,” De Laurentiis confessed. “Because I realized, ‘Ah, 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.’”
The celebrity chef was gobsmacked as she relived the moment, musing that it became clear that Batali didn’t respect her professionally.
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“Because I’m, like, a joke, right? To him, it was like a little bit of a joke,” De Laurentiis claimed.
De Laurentiis didn’t share the exact words that Batali had allegedly written but revealed that the excerpt never saw the light of day.
“I called my editor, and I was in tears,” De Laurentiis remembered. “I’m like, clearly I can’t use this. So now what do I do?”
The Super Italian cookbook author explained that her editor proposed that she would rewrite the foreword and send it to Batali to approve.
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“So we rewrote it, but I will never forget that,” De Laurentiis admitted, noting, “That’s basically what a lot of people figured: cute girl with big boobs, and so that’s why they’re watching her.”
When the cookbook went to print, the foreword said that De Laurentiis was not on the air “because she’s merely attractive; she’s a real Italian girl who can cook.”
Us Weekly has reached out to reps for De Laurentiis and Batali for comment.
Since publishing Everyday Italian, De Laurentiis has experienced a massive career. She starred on several cooking shows, including Giada at Home 2.0, which aired from 2008 to 2020, and has written 10 more cookbooks touching upon her Italian roots and culinary adventures.
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While Batali was an icon in the celebrity chef space and restaurant world for decades, his reputation took a hit in 2017. Batali was fired that December from The Chew following several allegations of sexual misconduct that allegedly took place years prior.
“I apologize to the people I have mistreated and hurt. 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,” Batali said in a statement at the time, while stepping away from his businesses. “That behavior was wrong and there are no excuses. 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.”
In May 2022, Batali was found not guilty of indecent assault and battery. Three months later, the chef settled two sexual misconduct lawsuits with women who accused Batali of grabbing them in Boston.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
