For decades, Food Network chef Rachael Ray has warmed America’s hearts with her budget meals and culinary catch phrases like “yum-o” and “delish.”
But now, worried fans are calling for a temperature check over the chef’s bizarre behavior.
“People have been concerned about her for the past couple of years,” a TV insider told The Post, following reports she was slurring her speech in a cooking video recently, leading worried fans to question if Ray is alright.
“There’s always been rumors that she drinks,” said a source, who was quick to point out they didn’t know if she could be suffering from a medical condition.
Sources close to Ray say there’s no issue, she’s “taking care of herself” and “doing things on her own terms.”
“Rachael Ray is someone that isn’t into hair and makeup, and high heels. People are judging her based off of what a standard of beauty is. She’s not that girl,” the TV insider said.
On Wednesday, Ray stepped out at a media event at Ray’s Bar on the Lower East Side to promote her spirits brand Staple Gin, shaking up cocktails behind the bar clad in an oversized blazer, jeans, Nike sneakers, and clear-framed glasses next to her husband, musician and lawyer John Cusimano, 57.
“I wouldn’t have my name associated with the actual gin because if you don’t like me or you think my voice is funny, or whatever, you could still buy the gin,” Ray quipped, giving her hubby credit for his cocktail-making skills.
“I wrote the recipe for the gin, I really did. Worked on it a long, long time. But my husband is responsible for all the cocktails that are made,” she told the crowd.
In May, Ray appeared to slur her words in a cooking video shared to Instagram on Mother’s Day, showing her standing over a stovetop.
She recalled a time when she was “very, very poor” living in Glens Falls, New York; before her big break in 2002 with “$40 A Day,” the show which saw her demonstrate how to live healthily on a low budget, catapulting her to a household name.
“Rachael worried about you!” one fan wrote in the comments.
“Rachael, are you okay? You don’t look well,” another asked.
In June, an insider claimed to the Daily Mail that something “seemed off” with Ray who showed “bizarre behavior” while conversing with fans and handing out bottles of her gin and baseball caps at an event at Broadway Spirits in Manhattan.
“She got oddly close to some people, hugging them in a way that seemed overly familiar as she posed for photos,” the source said.
“You know how Drew Barrymore acts with celebrity guests on her talk show — just like that.”
Last October, in the debut episode of her podcast “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead,” Ray admitted some of her housework was on pause because she suffered “a couple of bad falls in the last couple of weeks,” again sparking worry over her health.
A rep for Ray told The Post: “Yes, we have seen some comments and questions from fans. Rachael focuses on the majority of fans asking her for help getting dinner on the table or for ways they can best feed their family with food prices on the rise.
“Rachael is working at her usual vigorous pace.”
Behind the chef’s sunny persona is a mountain of grief. In May 2020, Ray’s beloved pit bull Isaboo died.
“[My dog] died in my arms,” she said at the time in an interview with EXTRA. “I felt guilty and grateful at the same time…People suffered actual human loss from COVID or because they couldn’t get care…and how many people died alone.”
Then her home in Lake Luzerne, New York, burned down in a chimney fire that August.
A year later, in 2021, her New York City apartment was flooded during Hurricane Ida.
“She was dealing with trauma,” the TV insider told The Post.
This June, Ray paid tribute to her longtime friend, fellow Food Network chef Anne Burrell, who died by suicide in June at age 55. She said the death left her “truly shaken.”
“She was a force in the kitchen, in any room, in every life she touched,” Ray wrote in a tribute on Instagram.
Ray reached Food Network superstardom with “30 Minute Meals,” where she made affordable food, fast for working families in the early 2000s.
She also launched her namesake lifestyle magazine and a nationally syndicated talk show, “Rachael Ray,” which ran for 17 seasons from 2006 to 2023.
Follow The Post’s coverage on Anne Burrell’s death
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- Anne Burrell will be seen back on TV weeks after her death
- Anne Burrell found ‘unconscious and unresponsive’ as details of celeb chef’s shocking death are revealed
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Her final episodes of the daytime gabfest ended with emotional tributes from celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama and she left a huge hole in ABC network’s schedule.“Her show did well with ratings, [ABC] couldn’t find another show to replace her. That was the challenge.”
Despite retiring from talk TV, sources close to Ray say she’s far from throwing in the dish towel on her career.
“I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead” has proven a hit, with guests like chef Jacques Pepin and Dr. Ian Smith, who had frequently appeared on her talk show.
“Rachael is doing really well — in fact, she’s working harder than ever. She’s constantly on the move, traveling between her homes in upstate New York and Tuscany, Italy, where she’s filming new episodes for her A&E shows, while also making frequent trips to New York City for events, media, and business meetings,” a source close to Ray told The Post.
“She’s taking real care of herself. She is still building and growing. She’s not slowing down — just doing things on her own terms.”
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