Four months after sexual misconduct allegations emerged against celebrity chef Mario Batali, one of his former Food Network colleagues, Giada De Laurentiis, is opening up about how she reacted to the news 맥스카지노� and about the issues women face in the restaurant industry.Back in December, in separate reports by Eater and The New York Times, several women came forward saying Batali had touched them inappropriately, and that female employees at the Spotted Pig restaurant would call him the 맥스카지노�Red Menace맥스카지노� because of his behavior. Batali apologized, saying in a statement, 맥스카지노�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.맥스카지노�Batali stepped away from his company맥스카지노�s operations. He was also fired by ABC맥스카지노�s "The Chew," an upcoming Food Network series was shelved and his products were removed from the food-store chain Eataly. Now, he is reportedly volunteering abroad while he figures out his next move. During an episode of Eater맥스카지노�s Upsell podcast, De Laurentiis said Batali had been a mentor to her when she was establishing a restaurant in Las Vegas. Then Cohost Amanda Kludt asked her how things have been in the months since the allegations emerged. De Laurentiis said the allegations didn맥스카지노�t 맥스카지노�come as a huge shock,맥스카지노� even though she didn맥스카지노�t have similar experiences to his accusers, but she was still sad to hear them. 맥스카지노�I keep saying to people, it맥스카지노�s time but it맥스카지노�s also really sad. Now, I did not have those exact experiences with him, but I don맥스카지노�t know that, it doesn맥스카지노�t come as a huge shock. Anybody who맥스카지노�s ever hung out with Mario knows he맥스카지노�s a very charismatic person. We drink too much and sometimes, you know, whatever. I맥스카지노�m not legitimizing it by any means. I know I맥스카지노�ve been through my own issues in this business. I think any woman in any business goes through stuff. It맥스카지노�s just sad, you know? It맥스카지노�s time, but it맥스카지노�s also sad. It맥스카지노�s a combo, and I think we all feel both.맥스카지노�De Laurentiis had a similar message for TMZ immediately after the allegations surfaced. 맥스카지노�It맥스카지노�s all very sad, but you know what, what has to happen, happens, and I hope that everybody feels better,맥스카지노� she said. 맥스카지노�It맥스카지노�s obviously a time of cleansing.맥스카지노�During the podcast, she also noted that women, both in and out of the food industry, have an opportunity to work together to make change 맥스카지노� and also had an uplifting message:맥스카지노�But I think we, as women, need to help each other more, and we need to stick up for ourselves, and I think that we need to change our culture, and the children need to learn to respect human beings, no matter what you look like, who you are, male or female. We just need to be respectful. Someone says they don맥스카지노�t wanna do something, they don맥스카지노�t wanna do it, period. Let맥스카지노�s just be nice to each other."Listen to the full podcast below: