Carla Hall on Why She Stood by Mario Batali During His Scandal: ‘It Wasn’t for Me to Forgive’ (Exclusive)

Carla Hall maintained her friendship with Mario Batali after he was accused of sexual assault in 2017, despite the criticism she received.

“To a lot of people’s horror, I was there for him,” Hall tells PEOPLE of her relationship with the former host on The Chew.

In December 2017, Batali was fired from the ABC food talk show after being accused of widespread sexual misconduct. The show ended six months later. In May 2022, Batali was found not guilty of indecent assault and assault charges in Boston Municipal Court. He settled two more cases in August 2022, according to The New York Times.

Hall says she was questioned in interviews and on social media at the time for standing by him.

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Carla Hall (with Mario Batali, Michael Symon and Clinton Kelly in 2016) has recorded nearly 1,200 episodes of The Chew. “They taught me so much,” she says.

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“The problem I had there, I said, ‘Okay, you’re talking about people that Mario seems to have harmed, but still, you women are attacking me — another woman,'” she recalls. “I had a little problem with that.”

“But it wasn’t up to me to forgive this person,” says Hall. “When you read something about someone in the newspaper and you don’t know that person, that story becomes 100 percent of what you know about that person. When you know a person, that story becomes 2 percent of what you know about the person. This is exactly how I live my life: judge so that you are not judged.”

Along with Hall, Batali and other co-hosts Michael Symon, Clinton Kelly and Daphne Oz, The Chew recorded almost 1200 episodes. “It was family,” says Hall. “They taught me so much.”

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When The Chew After finishing, Hall went on to do a number of other hosting gigs, including the Food Network Championship in baking shows. Her latest and first hosting role is Max’s new food adventure series Chasing Flavor (streaming now). On it, she travels the world to trace the roots of legendary American dishes such as chicken pie (Jamaica) and ice cream (Italy and Turkey).

Hall, a former CPA and runway model, couldn’t have pulled off this dream gig, she explains, without all the lessons that came before. “I need, collectively, all the different things I’ve been doing,” she says, “to do that.”

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Source: HIS Education