Rachael Ray slams rumors she disappeared after…
The proof is in the pudding.
Rachael Ray has fired back against the rumors she “disappeared” from public life after sparking major issues about her health earlier this 12 months.
“I don’t know what they’re talking about,” the celeb chef, 57, told Us Weekly during the Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival’s Burger Bash on Friday, Oct. 17.
Rachael Ray during the Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival in New York City on October 19, 2025. Getty Images for NYCWFF
Ray at the Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival on October 19, 2025. Getty Images for NYCWFF
“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 beforehand hosted “The Rachael Ray Show” on the Food Network for 17 seasons starting in Sept. 2006.
After this system ended in July 2023, she based her own food-focused manufacturing company, Free Food Studios, and partnered with A&E Networks to launch “Rachael Ray’s Meals in Minutes” and “Rachael Ray in Tuscany.”
Ray performs a demo during the 2025 South Beach Wine & Food Festival in Miami Beach, Florida, on February 22, 2025. Getty Images
Ray at the 2025 South Beach Wine & Food Festival in Miami Beach, Florida, on February 22, 2025. WireImage
“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 look on “The Drew Barrymore Show” on Wednesday, Oct. 15.
Although she owns properties in the Big Apple, upstate New York and Tuscany, she and her canine, Bella, benefit from 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.
John Cusimano and Ray pose at the Staple Gin sales space during the Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival in New York City on October 17, 2025. Getty Images for NYCWFF
Cusimano and Ray attend the Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival in New York City on October 15, 2023. Getty Images for NYCWFF
“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 creator shared.
Ray out and about in New York City on June 29, 2025. GC Images
Ray exterior “The Drew Barrymore Show” in New York City on October 16, 2025. BACKGRID
Ray prompted issues about her health after she appeared to slur her phrases in a number of videos shared online last 12 months.
Fans first observed the change in clips posted to Instagram, prompting the hypothesis 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 restricted her bodily exercise.
Ray and Brooklyn Beckham pose at the Staple Gin sales space during the Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival in New York City on October 17, 2025. Getty Images for NYCWFF
Lee Brian Schrager, Beckham and Ray at the Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival in New York City on October 17, 2025. Getty Images for NYCWFF
However, the previous Food Network star reportedly addressed the issues again while internet hosting the Burger Bash with Brooklyn Beckham, 26, on Friday night time.
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 additional 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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