Lidia Bastianich: I Dropped Mario Batali Like a Hot Potato
The beloved cook says she has not spoken to her son’s ex-partner since his scandal.
Lorenzo Bevilaqua/Getty
Celebrity chef Lidia Bastianich says she has not spoken to Mario Batali—who was her son Joe’s longtime business partner—since parting way with him during his sexual assault scandal six years ago. “It was very hard,” Bastianich told People. “He was a decent young man and then went off the deep end. He made it hard for our family.” Batali, once one of the nation’s most famous chefs, was acquitted of criminal charges, but the company had to pay $600,000 to employees who were sexual harassed.
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