Celebrity Chef arrested for DUI. A former contestant on “Top Chef Masters” was recently arrested in Napa Valley on suspicion of driving under the influence and drug possession charges.
The celebrity chef, Michael Chiarello, was pulled over in the wine country at 3:27 a.m. while driving his two-door 2015 Porsche Boxster. California Highway Patrol spokesman Officer Marc Renspurger reported that the chef was pulled over on Silverado Trail on his way home from Yountville, where his restaurant, Bottega Ristorante, is located. Renspurger reported that during the traffic stop, the officer noticed that Chiarello appeared to be driving under the influence.
Jail records show that he was taken into custody and booked on suspicion of driving under the influence and possession of a controlled substance, and was released the same day.
A spokesperson for the chef said that while he has apologized to those who he is close to, “he intends to vigorously challenge the misdemeanor charges filed against him.” Just days before the DUI incident, Chiarello reached a settlement in a lawsuit filed against him by Katherine Page and Asja Sever, two servers who used to work at his restaurant in San Francisco. The two women alleged that the chef sexually harassed them and forced them to “endure a hostile, sexually-charged work environment.”
In their lawsuit, the women claim Chiarello said crude statements to them and allegedly told the management team to not hire people they wouldn’t want to sleep with. The two former servers said that the management team turned “a blind eye” to the celebrity chef’s inappropriate behavior.
Chiarello has hosted his own cooking shows on PBS, the Food Network, and the Cooking Channel.
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