The proof is in the pudding.
Rachael Ray has fired back against the rumors she “disappeared” from public life after sparking major concerns about her health earlier this year.
“I don’t know what they’re talking about,” the celebrity chef, 57, told Us Weekly during the Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival’s Burger Bash on Friday, Oct. 17.
“I work my ass off all the time. And I never left,” she continued. “I just switched over to A&E and new partners, that’s all. But I’ve been working constantly. From the time I left the daytime show, I started writing. I write around the clock, and I produce shows with my friends around the clock.”
Ray previously hosted “The Rachael Ray Show” on the Food Network for 17 seasons beginning in Sept. 2006.
After the program ended in July 2023, she founded her own food-focused production company, Free Food Studios, and partnered with A&E Networks to launch “Rachael Ray’s Meals in Minutes” and “Rachael Ray in Tuscany.”
“So I don’t know why people thought I left,” she joked during the Burger Bash. “I guess we did a crap job of promoting it.”
Ray opened up about what she has been up to, and why she prefers Italy over NYC, earlier in the week after taping an appearance on “The Drew Barrymore Show” on Wednesday, Oct. 15.
Although she owns homes in the Big Apple, upstate New York and Tuscany, she and her dog, Bella, enjoy the quieter life in their Tuscan villa. But her husband of 20 years, John Cusimano, likes the hustle and bustle of the City That Never Sleeps.
“My husband loves being in New York. And I tell him, ‘Hey, go as often as you like, stay as long as you want,’” she told Us Weekly. “I come to New York and upstate New York when I have work, I prefer Italy.”
“It’s quiet. The dog is much happier. She hates New York City. Bella is not a New Yorker at all,” Ray continued. “So, for the dog’s sake, I spend as much time [in Italy] as I can.”
“She has a swimming pool and 66 hectares to run around on, and everything is very quiet, and the air is very fresh, and we have huge gardens and a vineyard and olive trees, and I just prefer that life,” the best-selling cookbook author shared.
Ray caused concerns about her health after she appeared to slur her words in several videos shared online last year.
Fans first noticed the change in clips posted to Instagram, prompting the speculation about her health.
The TV host later addressed the rumors on her “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead” podcast in Oct. 2024, claiming that she had suffered “a couple of bad falls” that limited her physical activity.
However, the former Food Network star reportedly addressed the concerns again while hosting the Burger Bash with Brooklyn Beckham, 26, on Friday night.
An attendee told Daily Mail that Ray “made a comment about how she had a ‘bum wisdom tooth,’ which is why she was talking the way she was.”
The insider further claimed that “something was definitely off about her” and it “was actually a bit cringe watching her on stage with Brooklyn because he looked uncomfortable next to her.”
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