Mario Batali Takes Leave After Groping Allegations, Report Says

WEST VILLAGE, NY — The superstar chef Mario Batali has taken a leave of absence from his restaurant empire following a report by Eater in which four women accuse the him of inappropriate touching.

The women told Eater that Batali had groped or inappropriately touched them over the last 20 years. Other people said they had heard similar rumors of the chef's aggressive and inappropriate behavior with women.

Batali said in a statement to Eater that he would take a leave of absence from the day-to-day operations of his businesses. He admitted inappropriate behavior.

"I apologize to the people I have mistreated and hurt," he said in the statement. "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.

"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."

Batali is one of the restaurant industry's more powerful figures. He was first launched to fame through a show on the Food Network, and since then has opened dozens of restaurants, including Manhattan favorites like Babbo and Del Posto, and is also a majority shareholder in the upscale grocery store and restaurant Eataly.

The Batali & Bastianich Hospitality Group, the management company that supports nearly two dozen restaurants owned by Batali and other stakeholders, said in a statement that it had retained an outside investigations firm "to independently investigate complaints and report to outside counsel."

"We take these allegations very seriously," the Batali & Bastianich Hospitality Group said in a statement. "Mr. Batali and we have agreed that he will step away from the company’s operations, including the restaurants, and he has already done so.

The group confirmed to Eater that a restaurant employee had officially reported inappropriate behavior by Batali to the company in October. The hospitality group told Eater it was the first official complaint filed about Batali.

Batali has also left his position as co-host of the daytime show "The Chew" on ABC while the company reviews the allegations, a spokesman said.

The four women who said Batali inappropriately touched or grouped them all spoke to Eater on the condition of anonymity, fearing retaliation from the powerful chef, according to the website. Reporters said they confirmed the women's stories when possible with friends, family and colleagues, as well as with public information.

One woman, a chef, told Eater that during a restaurant industry party about 10 years ago, Batali began rubbing the woman's breasts after wine was spilled on her shirt.

"He just went to town, and I was so shocked," the woman told Eater. "Jaw on the ground, I just stepped back from him in utter disgust and walked away."

Three additional women, all of whom worked for Batali at some point throughout their careers, described similar touching. One women, a former employee told Eater that Batali repeatedly grabbed her from behind and held her against him. Another woman, also a former employee, says he groped her and forced her to straddle him.

Other people who worked with Batali recounted similar incidents at miscounted. A server at Po, the beloved West Village restaurant that shuttered earlier this year, said that Batali repeatedly physically harassed coworkers while he was the chef at the restaurant in the 1990s. Batali co-founded the restaurant with Stephen Crane in 1993 before leaving in 1998 to open the nearby Babbo.

Crane told Eater that multiple staff members reported inappropriate behavior by Batali. Crane said more than one female employe said Batali had grabbed them from behind.

You can read Eater's full investigation here.

This post has been updated with comment from the Batali & Bastianich Hospitality Group.

Image credit: Bryan Bedder / Stringer / Getty Images Entertainment