Inside Rachael Ray's tragic journey... from her health woes to the man who 'beat' her with a GUN
Rachael Ray was once one of the most successful women on TV... but in recent months her bizarre behavior and slurred speech has left fans - and friends - immensely concerned for her.
Just last weekend, she posted a video to Instagram and it seemed as though she was having a hard time getting her words right.
Afterwards, a source told DailyMail.com that the star, 56, seems 'lost' and lives a 'very secluded life,' leaving them fiercely worried.
It's just the latest in a long list of devastating twists and turns to plague the TV personality, as Rachael's story has certainly not always been a glamorous one.
Her childhood was riddled with health woes and incessant bullying from her peers.
And when she got her first big break by landing a job in her 'dream' city, that was soon shattered when she was violently attacked on her way home from work.
A man pulled her into an alley and 'beat' her 'with his gun,' leaving her so shaken she quit her job and moved back to the town she grew up in.
Even so, Rachael didn't give up and she was eventually skyrocketed into the spotlight after she scored her own cooking show on The Food Network.
And while she has now had a wildly successful career spanning across decades, her time in the spotlight has been marred by controversy.
The former talk show host has been hit with rumors of racism, accusations of infidelity in her marriage, and constant public scrutiny that continuously cast a shadow over her booming business.
Recent years haven't been easy for her either: the sudden and shocking death of her aunt in 2013 erupted a nasty feud between Rachael and her niece that tore her family apart; her house was burned to the ground by a fire in 2022; her New York City apartment was flooded just one year later; and most recently, her strange behavior has sparked a slew of speculation about her health.
It's certainly been a rough road for Rachael. Amidst the latest concern for the star, FEMAIL has recapped the many devastations that she's had to overcome over the years.
Take a look back at Rachael's tumultuous journey... and see how she continuously prevailed despite all of her hardships.
Rachael's childhood was riddled with health woes and incessant bullying from her peers
Rachael was born in Glens Falls, New York, in 1968, and her family moved to Lake George when she was eight years old.
Her parents managed multiple restaurants across Cape Cod, Massachusetts, so the food industry was a big part of her life from the start.
But Rachael's childhood was tragically riddled with health woes and incessant bullying from her classmates.
She told People back in 2006 that she battled croup 'a lot' as a kid, which is an infection of the upper airways that causes difficulty in breathing and a barking cough.
At the time, she said it was still something that affected her as it had weakened her vocal chords.
'I lose my voice a lot,' she said. 'I had a lot of croup as a kid so I don't have the strongest vocal cords.
'I went to a voice doctor [who] taught me exercises for my throat and to cut back a little on the caffeine.'
She has also said that she was teased relentlessly by her classmates as a kid.
Rachael revealed on Instagram in 2019 that she was made fun of on the first day of kindergarten for bringing a smelly sardine sandwich for lunch.
'I quickly learned that sardines do not make friends… at least in American kindergartens they don't,' she wrote.
'I cried. A LOT. And my Grandpa consoled me - with a cool cloth on my forehead and the reminder that life provides plenty of tears; each day has ups and downs and moments when we will feel frustrated or overtired or beat up by life. And we have a choice… to cry or to continue on.
'I went back to school the next day carrying my sack lunch and a newfound resilience.'
She told ABC News in 2019 that she was also bashed over her choice of clothing.
'Everybody made fun of me because I wasn't wearing jeans, I was wearing a dress,' she said.
She added to NPR, 'I came home that day being the stinky girl in the funny clothes with the funny shoes.'
Rachael - whose parents divorced when she was 13 - started working in the restaurants her parents' oversaw when she was a teen.
After graduating from high school, she attended Pace University for a few years but ultimately dropped out.
Rachael was violently attacked during the early years of her career - a man pulled her into an alley and 'beat' her 'with his gun'
Rachael was violently attacked during the early years of her career - a man pulled her into an alley and 'beat' her 'with his gun.' She's seen in 2003
In 1995, Rachael moved to New York City, where she landed a job at the candy counter in Macy's.
She worked her way up until she was eventually the manager of the gourmet markets in the department store.
But it wasn't easy. She was working nearly 100 hours per week while living in a dinky apartment in Queens.
'I thought I had this great life [at the time], but [looking back] I had a lousy one,' she told People.
'I worked 100 hours a week. If you're going to work that hard, it should be for something with your name on it.'
But Rachael had a terrifying, life-threatening incident one night when she was on her way home from work that shook her to her core.
'This kid comes in behind me - next thing I know he shoves my face up against the door, jams a gun into my back and says, "Give me your bag,"' she recalled.
'I flipped the top off the mace my dad had given me when I moved to New York City, spun around and started screaming.'
But the next night, she said he returned and attacked her again.
She said of the second attack, 'The whole thing was in slow motion. He dragged me down the alley and beat the crap out of me with his gun.'
So shaken from the experience, Rachael left the city and moved back to Lake George, where she grew up.
She described it as the 'hardest decision she ever made' to Bloomberg, after 'dreaming' of living in New York her whole life.
'I couldn't go back to that apartment. I thought, that's it, I have to quit: I can be happy living on $35,000 a year,' she recalled of that time. 'But leaving Manhattan was the hardest decision I ever made.'
She returned to upstate New York and began working at a gourmet grocery store in Albany.
After seeing an advertisement for a promotion Domino's Pizza was doing that promised free pizza if their delivery took more than 30 minutes, she came up with her now famous 30-minute meals.
'I figured if people would wait 30 minutes for a mediocre pizza, they'd spend 30 minutes to make a great meal for themselves,' she explained.
She then started holding 30-minute meal classes and demonstrations at local supermarkets, and that's when her career truly took off.
'I loved my job,' she gushed. 'I eventually got a story on the local news, which led to a cookbook we sold in the market.'
After 'someone gave a copy of her book' to the Today show's Al Roker, she was invited to come on the show.
'I thought it was a joke,' she wrote for Bloomberg. 'I made a 30-minute meal for Al.
'The Food Network called immediately after that. We had a meeting, and they asked me to do a pilot for a 30-minute-meal show.'
After becoming a star, Rachael was hit with rumors of racism, accusations of infidelity, and constant public scrutiny that cast a shadow over her booming career
After a heartbreaking childhood and a rocky start to her career, Rachael finally got her big break after her appearance on the Today show.
Her show, 30 Minute Meals, premiered on the Food Network in 2001 and it was a massive success, launching her into the spotlight.
It ultimately went on for 11 seasons before it came to an end in 2012.
Then, in 2006, her talk show Rachael Ray premiered, and that went on for a whopping 17 seasons until it concluded in 2023.
She has also launched her own production company, Free Food Studios, created her own magazine, entitled Every Day with Rachael Ray, and released dozens more cookbooks over the years.
Her personal life also flourished - she met future husband John Cusimano in 2001 after they attended the birthday party of a mutual friend, and they tied the knot in 2005 in Tuscany, Italy.
But over the years, Rachael faced a slew of more setbacks that continuously cast a shadow over her booming career and personal life.
She was hit with rumors of racism, accusations of infidelity, and constant public scrutiny.
Back in 2007, TMZ release a report that claimed Rachael had made racist remarks about Oprah Winfrey years prior, which she denied.
She told People afterwards, 'If people want to slam me, just slam me. I felt bad for Oprah because it attached my name to [hers]. I wrote Oprah a note and said I would never [do that].'
Oprah's friend Gayle King also publicly dismissed the rumors.
Speculation also arose around the same time that Rachael's husband had cheated on her, but the star denied that too.
'I've known where he is every night since we've been married,' she insisted.
She also said during her show, 'John and I are happily, grotesquely, blissfully married. We have always been happy together since the day we met eight years ago.'
In 2008, reports emerged that said she was battling throat cancer in secret, leaving many worried for her health.
While she ultimately denied that she had the disease, she said she did have to undergo surgery to 'remove a benign cyst on her vocal cord.'
Rachael found herself back in hot water again in 2013, after her 77-year-old aunt, Geraldine Dominica Scuderi, tragically died while house-sitting for her.
It was said she went outside to feed the birds but got locked out in the freezing cold and had a heart attack.
Geraldine's daughter later blamed Rachael for the tragedy, telling the National Enquirer, 'My mother is dead today because [the] Ray family neglected her.
'I want the world to know the truth about them and just how they treat their own family.'
Rachael's representative said in a statement at the time, 'Rachael and her family were shocked and deeply saddened by the tragic and untimely passing of her aunt.'
She did not attend the funeral, citing prior work commitments.
Over the years, Rachael has been fiercely open about her decision to not have kids with her husband.
Back in 2007, she told People that she didn't have 'time' to be a mom because she 'worked too much.'
'I feel like a bad mom to my dog some days because I'm just not here enough,' she said.
'I just feel like I would do a bad job if I actually took the time to literally give birth to a kid right now and try and juggle everything I'm doing.'
But during an episode of her podcast last year, she admitted that the public's reaction to her decision has been negative.
'Boy, did I get bashed for it over the decades,' she said.
In recent years her house burned down and her apartment flooded - and most recently, her slurring speech has sparked concern from fans
Rachael faced more devastation in August 2020 when her home in upstate New York tragically burned down.
'Thank you to our local first responders for being kind and gracious and saving what they could of our home,' she wrote on X, formerly Twitter, at the time.
'Grateful that my mom, my husband, my dog… we're all OK. These are the days we all have to be grateful for what we have, not what we've lost.'
ET reported that the fire started in the chimney and 'spread quickly,' resulting in the sprawling mansion getting completely destroyed.
Rachael told the publication months later that she and her husband were staying in a guest house on the property while it was being rebuilt.
'It was just a shock when it happened,' she said. 'I mean, you can't imagine it. Our house is only 15 years old and we have our chimney cleaned twice a year.
'And literally it was just the chimney... and then the whole house literally burned down.
'I think initially we were just in shock. We listened to our first responders and we left with the clothes on our back and the flip-flops and Ugg shoes on our feet.'
Just one year later, more disaster struck when her New York City apartment got flooded during Hurricane Ida.
'Tell me you would not feel like a kicked can,' she told People afterwards, adding, however, that she was trying to stay positive.
'There are so much worse positions we could be in. I mean, I'm alive. And I do have a roof over my head. And I do have a job. At the end of the day, we always come back to grateful.'
Back in September, fans were left worried after she appeared to be slurring her speech during one clip
In recent months, Rachael has sparked concern over her bizarre behavior in her cooking videos.
Back in September, fans were left worried after she appeared to be slurring her speech during one clip.
Her representative responded to the speculation by issuing a statement saying the celebrity chef had 'no comment' on the matter, via TMZ.
One month later, she said that she had suffered 'a couple of bad falls in the last couple of weeks.'
In an episode of her podcast I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, Rachael explained that she enjoys doing 'physical labor' around the house.
But she added that she had to cut back on certain tasks because she took 'a couple of bad falls' while carrying wood.
'I'm a homemaker. I love chores. I love being in the kitchen. I always work with my brain everyday, I'm always writing something, but I really like chores,' she said.
'I like what people consider physical work. I like making dinner, planning dinners, making lists. I love physical labor, helping carry in the wood.
'I've had a couple of bad falls in the last couple of weeks, so I haven't been doing that in awhile, but I love carrying wood.'
Fans were left worried again when she shared a clip to her Instagram for Mother's Day last weekend, and at times, her words sounded garbled.
'Those close to Rachael are so concerned,' an insider told DailyMail.com afterwards. 'She has shut people out and lives a very secluded life.'
'She seems lost and when anyone reaches out to her she doesn't respond.
'Rachael was always so meticulous about her appearance, and it is very telling and concerning that she now just doesn't care. It is indicative of a bigger issue.'
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