Well, we were expecting this, weren’t we? I was prepared for this Bobby Flay-Stephanie March situation to get worse before it got better. Even I had heard the rumors about Bobby Flay and some female employees over the years, and I’m not connected in any way, shape or form to New York-chef-gossip. So if I had heard those rumors, they must have been everywhere. And now Stephanie March is pushing back against Flay in a big way – Page Six published a lengthy interview with March’s friend Maia Madison on Sunday, in which Madison does all of the heavy lifting of telling March’s story. Apparently, March discovered that Flay had been carrying on an affair with one of his young employees, a woman named Elyse Tirrell. Tirrell has worked for Flay since 2008 as a hostess, assistant, etc, and Madison claims Flay and Tirrell have been having an affair for three years. This is what Madison had to tell Page Six:

Stephanie March “came to my house and was sobbing uncontrollably,” Maia Madison recalled. “She said, ‘I can’t believe the last 10 years of my life have been a lie.’ Elyse had always seemed so nervous when Stephanie came to one of the restaurants, and Stephanie, not knowing what was happening, went out of her way to compliment her and try to make her more comfortable. Elyse had even been to Stephanie’s home when she was there — and when she wasn’t. Now this girl is about to become the Monica Lewinsky of the food world.”

Flay did try to save the marriage, surprising March in Amsterdam while she was in Europe with pals for the holidays.

“He did a Hail Mary and asked her to please try to work on their marriage,” Madison said. “Because she loves him, she said OK, and they went to a therapist and tried to work through their problems.”

But then he agreed to appear at Miami’s South Beach Wine & Food Festival in February at the time of their 10th anniversary. He went with his “B-Team,” as he calls his assistants, including Tirrell. It hit March hard.

“Stephanie told me, ‘I wasn’t asking for much. I would have stayed if he had given me one date night a week and tulips on our anniversary,’?” Madison said.

[From Page Six]

“The Monica Lewinsky of the food world” is a bit melodramatic, right? I mean, is Bobby Flay the Bill Clinton of the food world?! Anyway, of course I believe this. As I said, there have been rumors for years. My theory is that Elyse Tirrell is not the first (or the last).

The rest of that Page Six story is pretty juicy too – Flay’s spokesperson says she’s not going to respond to “spread rumors and innuendo” then goes on to respond by basically saying March’s lawyers have leaked all of this info (no sh-t, Sherlock) in an effort to throw out the pre-nup (pretty much). Then Page Six gets Flay’s business partner Laurence Kretchmer on the record. Kretchmer tells Page Six:

“Bobby has a rule that when people talk crap about him he doesn’t respond. I’ve been in the middle of this relationship for 14 years, and he did everything he could to save his marriage. Elyse is a great and valued employee and it is awful to see her dragged into this thing. If she had an affair with Bobby it would have been reported to me. That has never even been suggested, and people like to talk. Have Bobby and Elyse been seen together? Yes, that’s her job. None of this has any basis in reality. As ugly as Stephanie is going to look [when this news comes out], she will look uglier when other things come out.”

[From Page Six]

Whoa. Throwdown with Bobby Flay! I guess the insinuation is that March had an affair as well? Which I’m not sure if I believe, although that could just be because March has already done a good job of painting herself as a woman just trying to take care of her ailing mother while dealing with a husband with a wandering eye.

So, what do you believe? I believe none of these people are taking the high road, and you know that because all of them are insisting that they’re taking the high road whilst simultaneously feeding bitchy quotes to every media outlet out there. I also believe Flay was cheating and that March is out for blood AND money. And I believe this probably will end with Flay renegotiating the prenup and giving her a larger settlement, so why not just start that process now?

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.