Inside Rachael Ray's Relationship With Her Husband
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While celebrity marriages are often short-lived, Rachael Ray and her husband, musician John Cusimano, have been going strong for a long time. What keeps their marriage so strong? As Ray told People, "We actually like each other, have a lot of the same interests, and find it sexy to share bad behavior, like staying up too late, eating the wrong foods, and listening to loud music — rap, opera and any of our 3,000 records — wherever we are."
Ray added, "We love being together and not acting our age! We don't trust quiet people."
That doesn't mean that they never fight, though. As Ray explained, they do get into arguments, but they try to keep it healthy and make sure to make up quickly. "If John is being an a–hole, I tell him, then I feel better. And John does the same thing," said Ray. "We share a great sense of humor which helps."
How did Rachael Ray and her husband meet?
Ray and her husband met through a mutual friend at a party in 2001, but it wasn't exactly love at first sight. "He told me what he had made himself for dinner the night before, and I assumed that if you're not a chef and you made what he told me he made, that he was gay," Ray told People. "So I was going to set him up with a friend of mine — another handsome Italian man — and he said, 'Oh, I'm not gay!' So we stayed out until 4 in the morning that really was our first date."
Ray and Cusimano have been going strong ever since. They tied the knot in Tuscany in 2005. "He came at a point in my life when I had decided, I'm not going to chase [marriage]," Ray told People. "I don't think young men or women should feel pressured into marriage. You shouldn't marry anyone, in my opinion, who you have to try hard for."
Rachael Ray's husband is okay not being the center of attention
Ray is incredibly busy with her career, and her husband supports her. He understands that she can't, as she told People, "give a man an enormous amount of attention," which is part of why the couple work. "When men I have dated over the years whined about, 'Oh, you make no time for me' – see ya! I just dumped them," said Ray. "I don't need that pressure in my life."
The fact that Ray is so busy might be part of what fueled tabloid rumors early in their marriage that Cusimano has cheated on his wife more than once, but the couple have adamantly denied such rumors. "I've known where he is every night since we've been married," said Ray in 2007.
Cusimano, for his part, is happiest at home with his wife. "It's fun to come home after a hard day's work and just cook dinner," he said.
Rachael Ray's husband started a business for her
Ray's husband has quite a successful career himself. In addition to being the lead singer for rock group The Cringe, Cusimano is a lawyer. He explained to Love is Pop that he "used to be in the film business working on independent movies," but went down a different path after meeting Ray.
According to Cusimano, his wife "needed someone to start merchandising and licensing because she was starting to get some success and recognition." He added, "So, I started my own business, which has been quite successful for both of us. So, yeah, that's what I do. And the rock thing."
That's not the only major way Cusimano has supported his wife's career. When the COVID-19 pandemic forced Ray to start broadcasting her cooking show from home, Cusimano became her cameraman. "We do our daytime show from our house now, which airs every Monday and Friday, so we're actually staying wildly busy," she told BuzzFeed News.
Do Rachael Ray and her husband have kids?
Ray and Cusimano don't have kids, and they're happy with their childfree lifestyle. "I don't have time," Ray explained to People about her decision to not have kids. "I work too much to be an appropriate parent. I feel like a bad mom to my dog some days because I'm just not here enough. 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."
While they don't have kids, they do have a baby of sorts. The couple collaborated on a cookbook called My Year in Meals. Ray provided the food recipes for the book, of course, while Cusimano shared some of his best cocktail recipes.
Perhaps part of the reason that their relationship is so strong is that Ray and Cusimano balance each other out and work so well together. This also extends to their home life. "I never do the dishes, because my husband has an affinity for it," Ray told Good Housekeeping. "And I'm also not allowed to touch the coffeemaker."