The Truth About Buddy Valastro's Children
Even if you're not a huge foodie, you may very well recognize the name Buddy Valastro. The TV personality is known for bringing his baking talents to TLC shows like "Cake Boss," "Cake Boss: Next Great Baker," and "Buddy's Bakery Rescue."
Per his bio at All American Speakers, Valastro's culinary talent runs in the family and he's a fourth-generation baker. While it remains to be seen if a fifth-generation Valastro will take over his legacy, which includes a string of Buddy V's restaurants and Carlo's Bakery, there is a good chance one or more of his four children with his wife, Lisa, will helm the family business some day. For now, though, the kids are focused on growing up, although they've been sighted many times on their dad's shows. So, just who are his kids, and how much do we know about them? Here's the truth about Buddy Valastro's children.
Oldest child Sofia was born in 2003
Per Closer Weekly, the oldest of Buddy Valastro's children, Sofia, was born in April 2003. In an interview with Life of Dad, Valastro called Sofia's birth "the best moment" of his life, revealing that he wanted to follow in his dad's parenting footsteps and give her the best life possible. "I remember her being born and I just cried like a baby," he said. "I thought of her whole life and what I wanted for her. I wanted to just be there for her."
While the oldest Valastro kid is on social media, she's not a frequent poster so we don't get too many glimpses into her personal life. Thanks to her dad's Instagram, though, we know that she graduated from high school in June 2021. "You have grown right before our eyes into beautiful, confident, caring, loving, smart and responsible young lady!" wrote the proud dad alongside a family photo taken at Sofia's graduation.
Sofia now appears to be focusing on her college studies; a February 2021 Instagram post announced her acceptance to the University of Delaware, where, per her bio on the social media platform, she is a member of the Sigma Kappa sorority.
Buddy Valastro's older son is named after him
Buddy Valastro's firstborn son, also named Buddy Valastro, was born in September 2004. He appears to have a close bond with his older sister, Sofia, who shared a picture of the two of them standing together in honor of his 17th birthday Instagram with the caption, "Happy 17th birthday Jr. Love you."
Buddy Jr.'s own Instagram page only has a handful of posts so it's hard to glean too much about his personal life from social media. Still, we can tell he's into sports as evidenced by photos of him in lacrosse and football team uniforms. He seems to have inherited his athletic talent from his dad, who wrote in his book "Cake Boss: Stories and Recipes from Mia Famiglia" that he grew up playing various sports and "was a good athlete — strong, fast, and confident." Did he also inherit his dad's baking skills, though? Only time will tell.
Is Marco Valastro the heir to his dad's culinary empire?
Buddy Valastro's oldest two kids, Sofia and Buddy Jr., were born just over a year apart, but there's a bigger gap between Buddy Jr. and Valastro's next son, Marco Valastro. Marco was born in February 2007, making him nearly three years younger than Buddy Jr.
Unlike his older siblings, Marco maintains a more subdued social media presence and his Instagram account is set to private. It doesn't even mention that he's the son of the famous Cake Boss, although Sofia — whose own profile does mention her celeb connection — has tagged him from her account, making it a bit harder for him to fly under the radar.
While he's still quite young, Marco seems like the most likely candidate out of Valastro's four kids to take over the family business, with Valastro bragging about his son's cooking skills on social media. "I gotta tell you, this guy's pretty good," he said in an Instagram video in which Marco can be seen preparing his "famous filet mignon."
Carlo Valastro is the baby of the family
Rounding out the Valastro quartet is youngest child Carlo Valastro, who was born in February 2011. We don't know much about him and he doesn't appear to have any public social media profiles of his own — understandable, given his young age — but we know from a birthday tribute on Sofia's Instagram that she affectionately calls her youngest sibling "monster man."
Carlo appears to be named after his dad's bakery, Carlo's Bakery. While you might assume that Carlo is a family name and was named after a Valastro ancestor, the bakery's website notes that a man named Carlo Guastaffero opened the bakery in 1910. The Valastro family bought the shop in 1964, and it has been run by the family ever since. Who knows, perhaps Carlo will be running the bakery himself one day! He's certainly a fan of their cakes — and "Star Wars" — judging by the Baby Yoda cake the bakery made for his 10th birthday in 2021.
Buddy Valastro's sons helped him through a scary accident
Buddy Valastro suffered a serious injury to his hand in 2020, but luckily his kids were nearby to help him. Valastro recounted the "crazy freak accident" to "GMA3: What You Need to Know" (via Good Morning America). He explained that he was fixing the bowling machine at the family home when things went horribly wrong. "I must've turned my head and then my right hand got caught between a fork and this other mechanism that goes through the fork and it kind of wedged my hand in there," he said. "It blew through my ring finger and my middle finger as it barbed in my hand and I was stuck. It kind of crushed my thumb cause it was still moving back and forth."
Valastro was in "excruciating pain" as Buddy Jr. and Marco, along with his brother-in-law, worked to free him before rushing him to the hospital. "I couldn't be prouder of my two sons — they jumped into action — and within five minutes they had to undo a bolt, saw off one piece of metal, and then I was in my driveway," he said.
In an appearance on "Today," Valastro again expressed his gratitude towards his sons, saying (via The U.S. Sun), "I just can't imagine that they had to go through this and they did what they did."
The injury required multiple surgeries and Valastro's family helped him through the long healing period. "My wife, with the recovery, was amazing, my kids, my sisters, my brother-in-laws," he told ET in 2021.
Buddy Valastro appears to be passing down his cooking knowledge
While it seems like Buddy Valastro is supportive of his kids exploring various interests and hobbies, it does seem like they're all at least exposed to the family business and, whether or not they become professional bakers themselves, will grow up knowing their way around a kitchen. In an interview with Life of Dad, Valastro revealed that his kids first started learning the craft through decorating before moving on to "a little bit of baking" and eventually cooking.
The most important thing he's passing on to his kids, though, is a deep love of family, saying that this "is the main value" he wants his children to have. "Thick or thin or indifferent this is how we do," he said. "The fact that I am still close with my family, my four sisters, my mom, my in-laws; we are always together. That is what is being instilled."
Buddy Valastro's kids know the value of hard work
While Buddy Valastro is worth a pretty penny — Celebrity Net Worth estimates his fortune at $10 million — he's not letting his kids live a life of leisure. While he told Life of Dad that he wants them "to know that you can have nice things in life," he's emphasizing the importance of hard work to get those nice things and telling his kids they also need to "believe in yourself, and not give up."
Valastro admitted that he's worried his comfortable lifestyle will mean his children don't understand the value of hard work. "I get scared that my kids are going to be spoiled and are not humble," he said. To combat this, he and his wife have his kids engage in the time-honored tradition of doing chores in exchange for an allowance. "I take them to work with me. I make them earn a dollar," he said. "When they earn that dollar they can spend that money just to understand about life. It is important in real life."