Bobby Flay Slid into Kristin Cavallari’s DMs and She Rejected Him Before She Realized It Was a Platonic Message

Mar. 15, 2025

Bobby Flay, Kristin Cavallari

Cindy Ord/Getty; Charles Sykes/Bravo via Getty

The celebrity chef and theLaguna Beachalum discussed being single, and an awkward DM exchange, on the Oct. 29 episode of her podcast,Let’s Be Honest.

“You are fairly recently single,” said Cavallari, 37. Flay, 59, replied, “Am I?”

“That’s what I hear!” she answered. He jokingly responded, “That’s whatPeople Magazineis reporting.”

PEOPLE was first to report his split from writer Christina Pérezin June. Cavallari had her ownbreakupin September after dating TikToker​​Mark Estesfor seven months.

“I’m a very private person with my private life. Other people like to talk about my private life, I don’t like to talk about it because the rest of my life is so public, because I’ve been on television basically my entire adult life,” said Flay, whosefirst-ever Food Network seriesGrillin’ & Chillin’premiered in 1996. “So I like keeping as much as I can of my private life to myself.”

Plus, he said, virtual dating takes out the chivalrous parts of dating. “For me, I’m so old-school when it comes to this stuff. My father taught me to be a gentleman and to do things the right way and that there’s a proper process to go about it,” said Flay.

“Would you ever slide into the DMs? Or have you ever?” Cavallari asked.

“I have but never in a way that would be like — actually, I want to talk to you about this,” Flay interrupted himself. “You and I had a situation where I was coming to Nashville for literally one day for a meeting and I was like, ‘Who do I know in Nashville?’”

“I DMed you and I said to you — now, I know what words I used specifically because you reminded me — ‘I’m going to be in Nashville for one night, can I take you to dinner?’ And you literally said something to me like, ‘I’m already dating somebody,'” he recalled with a laugh.

“Or it was like, ‘I’m over dating right now,’” said Cavallari.

Bobby Flay and Christina Perez walk the red carpet at the 148th Kentucky Derby on May 07, 2022, at Churchill Downs in Louisville, KY

Jeff Moreland/Icon Sportswire via Getty

“No you said, ‘I literally started seeing somebody!’” Flay protested. “And I said, ‘I just want to go to dinner with you.’”

“It was like foot in mouth,” Cavallari laughed, explaining that they went to dinner and “had the best time.”

The pair spent some time discussing how Flay could’ve better avoided the DM mixup. “The ‘take you to dinner’ feels like a date,” said Cavallari. But she admitted a mistake, too. “There’s a fair argument that I shouldn’t just assume that you wanted to take me on a date,” she laughed.

Kristin Cavallari and ex Mark Estes.Kristin Cavallari/Instagram

Kristin Cavallari Sports an ‘M’ Necklace amid New Romance with Boyfriend Mark Estes

Kristin Cavallari/Instagram

“You are a very good eater,” Flay complimented. “I noticed when we went to dinner.”

“I like to eat, people don’t think that about me,” she said.

“The stereotypical hot girl meal is salad, which is crazy,” Flay joked and added that Cavallari instead ordered fried pig ears.

“I’m an adventurous eater, I’ll try just about anything,” she replied.

Let’s Be Honestis available on all podcast platforms.

source: people.com