Mario Batali and Carla Hall on The Chew in 2016.Photo:Lou Rocco/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty
Lou Rocco/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty
Carla Hallmaintained a friendship withMario Bataliafter he was accused of sexual assault in 2017, despite the criticism she received for it.
“Much to many people’s dismay, I was there for him,” Hall tells PEOPLE of her relationship with her former cohost onThe Chew.
In December 2017,Bataliwas fired from the ABC food talk show after being accused of wide-rangingsexual misconduct.The show ended six months later.In May 2022, Batali was found not guilty on charges of indecent battery and assault in Boston Municipal Court. He settled two more cases in Aug. 2022,according toThe New York Times.
Carla Hall (with Mario Batali, Michael Symon and Clinton Kelly in 2016) shot nearly 1,200 episodes of The Chew. “They taught me so much,” she says.Lou Rocco/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty
“The problem that I had there, I was like, ‘Okay, you’re talking about the people that Mario seemed to have done harm to, but yet, you women are attacking me — another woman,” she recalls. “So I had a little issue with that.”
“But it wasn’t for me to forgive this person," Hall says. “When you read something about somebody in a newspaper, and you don’t know that person, that story becomes 100 percent of what you know about that person. When you know the person, that story becomes 2 percent of what you know about the person. That’s just how I live my life: judge lest you be judged.”
Along with Hall, Batali and other cohostsMichael Symon,Clinton KellyandDaphne Oz,The Chewfilmed nearly 1,200 episodes. “It was a family," says Hall. “They taught me so much.”
WhenThe Chewended, Hall moved on to a variety of other hosting gigs including Food Network’sBaking Championshipshows. Her latest and first lead hosting role is Max’s new food adventure seriesChasing Flavor(streaming now). On it, she travels the world to trace the roots of iconic American dishes like chicken pot pie (Jamaica) and ice cream (Italy and Turkey).
Hall, a former CPA and runway model, couldn’t do this dream gig, she explains, without all the lessons that came before. “I needed, collectively, all the different things that I was doing," she says, “to do this.”
source: people.com
