Giada De Laurentiis, the beloved chef known for her vibrant Italian cooking, recently shared a deeply unsettling memory. It involved fellow culinary star Mario Batali. This experience, she explained, forever changed how she saw him. It also shaped her view of how he might have seen her own professional skills.
"This is someone we aren’t supposed to talk about, but I’m going to," De Laurentiis, now 54, declared. She spoke during a July episode of Samah Dada’s YouTube program, On the Menu. A snippet from that show later gained widespread attention on TikTok.
De Laurentiis then took listeners back to 2005. She was crafting her very first cookbook, Everyday Italian. She reached out to Batali, 64 at the time, asking if he would pen the foreword. "He’s truly the main person I’ve worked with," the former Food Network host explained. "He’s a legend in the Italian food world." She felt his endorsement would be "fundamental" for her new career.
Batali agreed to write something for the book. De Laurentiis was thrilled. That excitement quickly turned to heartbreak once she actually read his supposed text. "When I read it, I cried," De Laurentiis confessed. "Because I realized: ‘Oh, he’s basically saying I’ve gotten this far, and I’ve had this little success, because I have big breasts. And if he had breasts, he would have gone even further.’"
The celebrated chef was visibly stunned as she recalled the moment. It became clear to her that Batali did not respect her as a professional peer. "Because I’m like a joke, right? To him, it was like some kind of joke," De Laurentiis stated.
De Laurentiis chose not to repeat Batali’s exact words. However, she confirmed that what he wrote never made it into her book. "I called my editor, and I was crying," De Laurentiis remembered. "I thought, ‘Clearly I can’t use this. Now what do I do?’"
The author of the cookbook Super Italian explained her editor offered a solution. They suggested rewriting the foreword. Then, they would send the revised version back to Batali for his approval. "So we rewrote it, but I’ll never forget it," De Laurentiis admitted. She added, "That’s basically what a lot of people thought: a pretty girl with big breasts, and that’s why they see her." The foreword that ultimately appeared in her cookbook stated that De Laurentiis was not on screen "simply because she is attractive; she is a true Italian girl who knows how to cook." Us Weekly reached out to representatives for both De Laurentiis and Batali for comment on the matter.
Since Everyday Italian hit shelves, De Laurentiis has built an impressive career. She has starred in several cooking shows, including Giada at Home 2.0, which aired from 2008 to 2020. She has also written ten more cookbooks, delving into her Italian heritage and culinary explorations.
Meanwhile, Mario Batali, once a giant among celebrity chefs, saw his reputation crumble. In 2017, his career took a sharp turn. Batali was fired from The Chew in December of that year. This followed multiple accusations of sexual misconduct from years prior.
"I apologize to the people I have mistreated and hurt," Batali stated in a public message at the time. He also stepped away from his businesses. "Although the identities of most of the individuals mentioned in these stories have not been revealed to me, much of the behavior described does match how I have acted," he continued. "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 colleagues, employees, customers, friends and family."
In May 2022, Batali was found not guilty of sexual assault charges. Three months later, the chef reached settlements. These agreements resolved two sexual misconduct lawsuits. The lawsuits involved women who accused him of groping them in Boston.
If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, resources are available. You can contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).