Celebrity chef Bobby Flay got burned by his estranged actress wife after meeting with the judge in their divorce case in Manhattan Supreme on Thursday.
“Law & Order: SVU” star Stephanie March erupted at Flay after spotting his publicist talking to reporters in a courthouse hallway after the sitdown.
“This is what you call not talking to the press?!! You bring your p.r. person to talk to the press??” March burst out at Flay, his lawyers Nancy Chemtob and Donald O’Sullivan and publicist Julie Halpin.
March’s lawyer, Deborah Lans, then reminded the Flay team that Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Matthew Cooper had just ordered them all to not speak with the press.
The judge’s order came on the heels of a TMZ story which said that March, 40, was seeking to get their prenup tossed as “unconscionable” because she helped make him a success.
Her filing said she has “an amazing palate,” and that Flay, 50, would not have excelled in his expanding restaurant business over the last decade if he had not used her as a taster, the report said.
Under the terms of their pre-nup, Flay, who’s worth an estimated $20 million, only has to pay March $5000 a month.
The couple was married in 2005.
Flay filed for divorce last month, amid reports he’d cheated on March, 40 – a charge the rep for the Food Network star said was “mud-slinging.”
In court waiting for the judge, Lans said “we haven’t seen” the TMZ story and March seemed surprised to hear about it.
After their meeting with the judge, reporters asked Flay about the TMZ story, and he deferred questions to Halpin and Chemtob – who said they had been asked by the judge to avoid speaking with the press.
Then, as Halpin was introducing herself and reminding reporters that she had worked with them on another unrelated court case last week, March walked out of Cooper’s courtroom and erupted.
The dust up ended when Chemtob asked a reporter to go back to Cooper with her and confirm that she had declined comment.
Lans and March followed.
Ultimately, March left the courthouse by the front door in her kelly green silk blouse, black and white striped asymmetrical skirt and beige coat.
Flay who was trim in a grey suit, white shirt and subdued maroon tie, left by the back door.
“I don’t know why they care,” he muttered affably as three photographers rushed to take his picture.
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