Giada De Laurentiis recently recalled crying after she read the disparaging comments that, she says, chef Mario Batali wrote about her in a foreword for her first cookbook.
The Italian-born chef, cookbook author and Food Network regular joined host Samah Dada on her YouTube show On the Menu on July 29. In a clip from the episode shared on TikTok on Aug. 11, De Laurentiis told Dada she had a story about a person she was “not supposed to talk about” but was “going to.” That person was Batali, who De Laurentiis worked with at the Food Network early in her culinary career.
De Laurentiis explained that she had asked Batali to write a foreword to her first cookbook, Everyday Italian, which debuted in 2005, as Batali was “a legend in the Italian space” at the time. She said his “stamp of approval” would have been “huge” for her, and she was happy when he agreed to write it.
“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,’” De Laurentiis recalled. “Because I’m like, a joke, right? Like, to him, it was like a little bit of a joke.”
De Laurentiis said she called her editor “in tears,” knowing she could not use what Batali allegedly wrote in the intro of her book. Her editor said they would rewrite his foreword and send it to him for approval, which they did.
“So we rewrote it, but I will never forget that,” she said. “That’s basically what a lot of people figured: cute girl with big boobs, so that’s why they’re watching her.”
The final version of De Laurentiis’s foreword is flattering toward the author and focuses on her talents in the art of Italian cuisine.
“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’s foreword reads.
Batali has not commented on De Laurentiis’s account of what he wrote.
Batali is a famed American chef, known for his Italian cooking style. He previously had multiple restaurants across the globe and was a co-host of ABC’s The Chew from 2011 to 2017. In 2017, Batali was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women in an article on the food website Eater. Following the allegations, Batali stepped away from his restaurant empire and was asked by ABC to take leave from the talk show.
In 2018, De Laurentiis appeared on the podcast Eater Upsell and stated that she was not surprised to learn of the allegations against Batali. “I did not have those exact experiences with him, but it doesn’t come as a huge shock,” she said at the time.
“Anybody who’s ever hung out with Mario knows he’s a very charismatic person,” she continued. “We drink too much and sometimes … I’m not legitimizing it by any means. I know I’ve been through my own issues in this business. I think any woman in any business goes through stuff. It’s just sad, you know? It’s time, but it’s also sad. It’s a combo, and I think we all feel both.”
