Celebrity chef John Besh has been spotted out for the first time with his wife after he stepped down from his restaurant company amid sexual harassment allegations.
The 49-year-old, who is best known for his appearance on Top Chef, stepped out with his wife Jenifer near their home in Slidell, Mississippi on Tuesday.
The couple, who have been married 26 years, were both wearing their wedding rings as Besh was pictured behind the wheel of their car.
The New Orleans chef stepped down from the restaurant group that bears his name after a newspaper reported that 25 women who are current or former employees of the business said they were victims of sexual harassment by male co-workers and bosses.
Besh’s departure from the business he co-owns was announced to employees in an email on Monday.
‘John has decided to step down from all aspects of operations and to provide his full focus on his family,’ Shannon White, the woman who is stepping in as CEO, said in an email to staff.
The move comes two days after an eight-month-long investigation by Louisiana newspaper NOLA.com revealed claims of sexual harassment by Besh and allegations that his restaurants did little to discourage male staff from harassing women.
Women interviewed said male bosses in the Besh Restaurant Group touched or verbally harassed them and, in a few cases, tried to leverage positions of authority for sex.
The most shocking claim came from a former employee who said Besh ‘insisted (she) drink heavily’ in 2015 before he approached her in her hotel room, when she was ‘easily overwhelmed’, and performed oral sex on her.
Besh, who has been married to his wife since 1991, acknowledged a sexual relationship with an employee saying in a statement that it was consensual, despite the woman’s assertions in a complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that she felt pressured.
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Source: Daily Mail
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