Who Is Mario Batali’s Wife Susi Cahn? Chef Accused Of Sexual Misconduct

Chef and businessman Mario Batali announced he was stepping away from his restaurant business and ABC show following allegations of sexual misconduct uncovered in a report by Eater New York. Batali, 57, is married to Susi Cahn. The two live in New York City and have two sons together.

Cahn and Batali were married in 1994. Cahn’s parents were the co-founders of the Coach handbag company in New York City. Cahn’s parents sold the company in 1985 to work on a farm they owned in Gallatinville, New York, called Coach Farm. There they made goat cheese and other cheese products. Batali and Cahn met while she worked for her parents, according to the New Yorker. She helped them sell cheese and grow vegetables and met Batali while he worked at the Italian restaurant Rocco.

A 2002 New Yorker profile of Battali described his wife this way:

“Cahn, who is so many things that Batali isn’t—petite, dark-haired, East Coast, Jewish to his lapsed Catholic, early-to-bed to his out-until-early, reserved and deliberate to his outgoing and impulsive—illustrates the kind of person Batali probably gets on with best,” the profile read.

Cahn attended the University of Michigan — and the two own a second home in Michigan.

Batali’s accusers claim that he groped them inappropriately and that the behavior has taken place over the span of 20 years. The four women who accused him of sexual misconduct chose to remain anonymous.

Batali did not deny the allegations in a statement he provided to Eater New York.

“I apologize to the people I have mistreated and hurt. 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,” said Batali in a statement.

Batali said he would step away from his businesses for an unspecified amount of time.

“I have work to do to try to regain the trust of those I have hurt and disappointed. For this reason, I am going to step away from day-to-day operations of my businesses. We built these restaurants so that our guests could have fun and indulge, but I took that too far in my own behavior. I won’t make that mistake again. I want any place I am associated with to feel comfortable and safe for the people who work or dine there,” continued Batali’s statement.

Batali owns several restaurants in addition to founding the Batali & Bastianich Hospitality Group— a restaurant management and services company.

The first formal complaint filed against Batali came in October of this year, according to the company, when an employee reported Batali for inappropriate behavior.