Giada De Laurentiis ‘cried’ after Mario Batali credited her success to her ‘big boobs’
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Giada De Laurentiis revealed what fellow former Food Network star Mario Batali really thought of her success in the industry.
The celebrity chef was a guest on Samah Dada’s YouTube show On the Menu when she brought up the scandal-ridden Batali.
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“This is a person we’re not supposed to talk about, but we’re going to,” De Laurentiis dished to Dada, in reference to his sexual misconduct allegations.
The 54-year-old says she asked Batali to write a foreword for her 2005 cookbook Everyday Italian, which was based on her first of many Food Network shows.
She described Batali as “a legend in the Italian space,” explaining, “I felt like his stamp of approval would’ve been huge for me.”
Batali agreed to write it, but De Laurentiis says result was unexpected.
“When I read it, I cried 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.’”
She continued: “Because I’m like, a joke, right? Like, to him, it was like a little bit of a joke.”
The celebrity chef recalled calling her editor “in tears,” because this was not something she was used to.
“So now what do I do?” she remembers saying.
De Laurentiis detailed that she and her editor rewrote the foreword and sent it back to Batali for approval.
“But I will never forget that that’s basically what a lot of people figured — cute girl with big boobs, so that’s why they’re watching her,” she said.
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The foreword that was ultimately published in her first of 11 cookbook so far reads: “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.”
Batali was first accused of sexual harassment and assault in December 2017.
In May 2022, he agreed to settle lawsuits by two women alleging he sexually assaulted them in separate encounters in Boston, one of whose accusations were the focus of a #MeToo-era criminal prosecution that ended in his acquittal.
Batali formerly ran the B&B Hospitality Group with restaurateur and Masterchef judge Joe Bastianich but was bought out from the company following the allegations.
Bastianich’s mother, renowned chef and principle of B&B Lidia Bastianich, told the Toronto Sun’s Rita DeMontis in 2018 that the allegations against Batali were “addressed immediately and actions put in place to assure the people working for the company that this would not be tolerated.”
She admitted that she was devastated by the reports, calling Batali “part of the family.”
Batali was fired from ABC’s The Chew while Food Network halted plans to release episodes of his show, Molto Mario, after the allegations.
De Laurentiis’ Everyday Italian ran for 12 seasons, while also appearing in a number of other series over the years before leaving the network in 2023.
She has since released her latest cookbook, Super-Italian and is focused on her lifestyle brand, Giadzy.
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