She's the better half of the "Cake Boss."
But this Italian mama's no slouch!
She hosts shows, she cooks up a storm, she…has a thing for mini trampolines?
Keep watching for the sweet story on Lisa Valastro.
Lisa is a first-generation Italian-American.
And her immigrant parents were serious about raising her right.
Even when she went to the movies on the weekends with friends, she recalled on her podcast,
"What's Up Cuz,"
"My mom and dad were so strict with me.
I had to be home by 9 p.m., but the kicker is while I was in the movie, I had to get
out every hour to go to the payphone to call my mom and check in!"
Admitting that her parents were just doing their best, Lisa — who became a mom of four
— is a little more relaxed when it comes to her own kids.
And she says she was more than comfortable with her teenage kids Sofia and Buddy Jr.
dating and going to parties, as long as they were back by midnight.
Since we've got baking on the brain with the Valastro gang, it turns out Lisa's mom, Gloria,
is a professional baker herself!
And her shop, Gloria's Amazing Cookies, offers everything from fresh-baked chocolate biscotti
to apricot, strawberry, or Nutella pie.
For the record, all of it sounds amazing.
Honoring tried-and-true recipes that have been passed down through generations, Lisa
posted to Insta in 2020,
"My mom launched her very own cookie business, something that she always dreamed of.
These are the cookies we grew up eating and now my kids are also making and enjoying them!"
Gloria also introduced a new tradition at Carlo's bakery.
As Buddy wrote in his book "Cake Boss," after seeing Gloria crank out tomato sauce once
a year, he decided to do the same at the bakery.
It worked so well, they made it an official annual event.
Buddy and Lisa have known each other since they were kids.
Having first gotten acquainted as family friends, it was when Buddy's relatives visited from
Italy that things got serious.
She was 19 and he was 22.
And as the rest is history.
"Maybe by the second or third date, I definitely knew."
But Buddy was just a regular old baker back then, with no clue about the fame that awaited
him.
He had even dropped out of high school to manage the bakery when his dad passed away.
And Lisa would bring him food and hang out, watching him work late into the night.
They finally got married in October 2001.
But when "Cake Boss" launched in 2009, their lives changed forever.
While Lisa admits that the fame thing can be stressful, she says she wouldn't change
it for the world.
For Lisa, the constant presence of a camera crew at Carlo's Bakery took some getting used
to.
As she admitted on "What's up Cuz,"
"I was never on camera before, I was never in the TV business.
I didn't know what to expect.
All of a sudden you wake up one day, and there are 15 camera people and sound people listening
and looking at every single move you make."
Now, with "Cake Boss" going strong for over a decade, the crew has become like family.
She said,
"I have even let them into my delivery room.
You've got to feel real comfortable to do that."
"Is that adorable or what."
The couple's youngest child Carlo's birth was even filmed for the show.
With the stipulation that there would only be cameras shooting from behind her head,
Lisa said that after three kids, she knew what to expect — with the delivery, as well
as the production crew.
With four kids in the house, a hungry hubby, and a large extended family, life can be pretty
chaotic for the Valastros.
But Lisa runs a pretty tight ship when it comes to family meals.
So, at the start of the week, she shops for everything she needs.
"I always have to be one step ahead and be prepared because I never know who's showing
up at the house."
Sunday at the Valastro's is synonymous with sauce.
And Lisa cooks up a fresh recipe with six pounds of Jersey plum tomatoes, and meatballs
or pasta.
Explaining that her mom taught her how to make the best sauce, she shared on "Lisa's
Home Cooking,"
"We did it so many times that it's such a second nature to us right now."
But when it comes to big holidays like Christmas, Lisa's got a whole different game plan.
With a three-day head start, she shops for groceries and assembles the lasagna.
And one day before, she cooks the veggies.
So for Christmas family dinner, all she has to do is heat the food and get ready to party.
"My wife, she may seem like a pretty face, but my wife can cook, OK?
She put together this huge spread which makes me so happy."
Of course, we're not comparing her skills to Buddy — who once made a 1,000-pound alligator
cake.
But Lisa's also got a few tricks up her sleeve when it comes to sugary confections!
And she happily lends her skills to her hubby's birthday cakes.
"When we go into a cake like this, there is zero plan.
There is no plan.
My only goal at the end is that the cake is standing."]
In 2018, she made a four-tiered cake covered with Reeses, writing on Instagram,
"It's a tradition for me and the kids to make Dad his birthday cake every year!
It usuuually falls over before he even gets home but for a few minutes, it looks pretty
great."
"No better way to say 'I love you' than makin' a cake."
In 2019, it was a massive three-tiered cake loaded with cookies and mini doughnuts. 2020
definitely had Froot Loops involved.
In 2021, it was all about the Reese's peanut butter cups.
And in 2022, it was three tiers of Buddy's favorite snacks as a kid.
But that passion for baking clearly runs in the family.
"Hoboken-style, baby!"
"We're the Valastros.
We're here to bake."
Daughter Sofia once whipped up tie-dye ice cream cone cupcakes and cake pops for fans.
And she and Carlo put together a rainbow tie-dye sprinkle cake that looked like it would be
right at home on her dad's bakery shelf.
And Buddy Jr.'s M&M chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich-making chops look pro-level
already.
While "Cake Boss" already offers a peek into the personal lives of the Valastro fam, Lisa's
podcast "What's up Cuz?"
takes it up a notch.
Co-hosted with her cousin and comedian Erica Spera, it covers the stuff that happens when
the cameras are off.
And it gets personal.
As she shared,
"Before 'Cake Boss' started, I never really pinpointed all the imperfections in my body.
Until, unfortunately, social media started pinpointing it out for me."
"My heart's, like, goin' a hundred miles an hour."
Unfortunately, for Lisa, the public scrutiny even kept her from posting on Instagram, on
occasion.
Leaving her more than 700,000 followers hoping for more.
But Lisa forges ahead, sharing fun and personal details about her family, in her down-to-earth
style.
"I think the final touch is a little bit of mustard."
While Buddy has whipped up mouthwatering, showstopper cakes for decades, when it comes
to cooking at home, Lisa's the boss.
She even launched her own show, "Lisa's Home Cooking" on Buddy's official Youtube channel,
Cakehouse.
Early episodes in 2018 featured popular Italian dishes like bruschetta, egg balls, spaghetti,
and pasta cacio e pepe.
And the show was up and running until 2019.
Shot in her home kitchen in New Jersey, and at the family house on the Jersey shore, Lisa
revealed some trivia about herself.
For example, her favorite veggie is zucchini and her number one kitchen tool is a garlic
press.
She said:
"This tool travels with me everywhere.
If I have to cook somewhere, this always goes in my pocketbook."
"My favorite thing in this kitchen — don't laugh — is my garlic press."
She even featured some of her kids' favorites on the show: mashed sweet potatoes with marshmallows
and sugar, and a simple pasta and broccoli one-pot meal.
Lisa shared a "before and after" in August 2019 that had fans wondering how the wife
of the Cake Boss got so fit.
Well, it looks like she's not giving up all the garlic bread.
Her secret is her mini trampoline.
And even her daughter Sofia is into it.
She wrote,
"I recently started working out at Perspirology in Sea Bright, New Jersey taking the bounce
classes, I have to say I am so happy with my results!!
[The instructors] show you proper technique and form and it's so much fun, on a trampoline.
I've never had so many people tell me how fit and toned I look, I've worked out my entire
adult life but never seen results like this."
She's committed to a one-hour workout session every morning.
And she even has a mini trampoline set up at her home, adding,
"Not only is it a great workout it is a complete stress relief!!"
Buddy — who has often blamed his fluffy love-handles on his wife's delicious cooking
— also shed a significant amount of weight in 2018, crediting the Optavia program for
his transformation.
While the protein-based meals may have had him looking fitter than ever, we know his
wife's famous eggplant or chicken parm will always be number one in his heart.
"Look at all this cheesy goodness."
"Cake Boss" turned Lisa into a bona fide reality TV star.
And along with the popularity came invitations to appear on a bunch of other shows.
One of them was the competition series, "Dancing Brasil," in 2017.
Having nailed the Cha-Cha from top to bottom, Lisa wrote in an Instagram post,
"Signing on to 'Dancing Brazil' was hard for me because it meant being away from my children
and I was so worried to leave them for the first time but everyone told me to take the
chance and I'm so happy I did!"
"You cooked, I'm gonna feed you.
How's that?"
Lisa and Buddy have also made appearances together — including "The Chew" in 2018,
where Lisa made linguini with clams and lobster.
And then they did "Rachael Ray" where the pair cooked up some chicken saltimbocca.
Lisa also stopped by Hallmark Channel's "Home and Family" to cook up meatless meatballs.
And she landed on "Say Yes to the Dress" with Buddy's sisters, to find her ultimate bridal
gown for her vow-renewal.
What do a NASCAR race car, Betty White, and Lisa Valastro all have in common?
Buddy made life-sized replicas of all three of them.
But when it came to carefully crafting Lisa's tasty selfie, it was all part of a surprise
party for her 30th birthday.
Buddy explained on "The Chew" that it was the first life-sized cake he ever made.
Well, he finally did it.
On the show, he unveiled the creation after positively gushing over his amazing wife in
a tribute for her special day.
But of course, the cake wasn't an exact replica.
Lisa laughed about it later, admitting on "The Chew,"
"It doesn't really look like me, but it is the thought that counts."
That was because Buddy had to be sly about approximating Lisa's measurements.
She recalled,
"The week he was making that cake, he would come up to me and hug me a certain way.
And feel me — I'm like, 'What are you doing?'"
In 2018, Buddy threw another surprise party for Lisa with a designer bag and heels cake
— which Lisa admits are her greatest weaknesses.
You can't go wrong with a bunch of accessories covered in fondant and packed with flavor!
In September 2020, tragedy struck the Valastro household.
Buddy's hand was impaled by a bowling pin-setting machine in his home, inflicting severe nerve
damage.
And for several precarious days, the family wondered if Buddy would lose his entire career
and everything he had worked for.
"I'm so scared right now.
This is my dominant hand.
This is my piping hand."
The whole event was portrayed in a Discovery special, "Road to Recovery," where fans witnessed
almost every terrifying moment.
After seeing Buddy's hand for the first time, Lisa recounted on her podcast,
"I was a surgical tech back in my day, so it's not like I can say I didn't see gory
stuff in the operating room.
But what went through my mind, at that first instance, was the pain that my husband must
have been in."
Lisa kept it together for her family, and busied herself with planning the best possible
care for her husband.
As she remembered,
"If I start acting crazy, who is going to be there for [my husband and kids]?"
Fast forward to 2022, and Buddy has almost fully recovered.
And he has his family to thank for their rock solid support.
He shared with People,
"My wife has been amazing.
She's been a trooper.
After you have an injury like this, and your wife helps you dry you out of the shower,
that crosses another level.
You get to really know each other and love each other and be there for one another."
It looks like Buddy hasn't been the only one laser-focused on his health and wellbeing.
In 2021, Lisa underwent a hysterectomy after suffering repeated bouts of pain, due to a
cyst.
She claimed that ovarian cancer runs in her family and that her grandmother died of it
at age 49.
Though the surgery went well, Lisa explained on an episode of "What's up Cuz?"
that she was still experiencing severe night sweats.
"If someone told you 'you have a chance of getting cancer,' what would you do?"
She later shared with fans that she had also been diagnosed with non-cancerous breast tumors.
And she was forced to choose between getting a mastectomy, or essentially agreeing to a
life of regular biopsies.
But it appears that this is something Lisa had dealt with ever since she was 19 and found
a lump.
Since then, she has had to go for regular mammograms and ultrasounds to keep a watchful
eye on her body.
As she described on her podcast,
"If you are looking at a beautiful clear night sky and you are seeing thousands of millions
of stars out there, that's what my breast looks like — a bunch of white spots on MRI."
It didn't matter that the Valastros had a watchdog or a top-notch security system installed
in their 7,000 square foot home; burglars still found a way onto the property.
According to NewJersey.com, in early 2021, a couple of kids made their way into the porch,
walked around the house, and peeked in through the windows.
Lisa later saw the intruders sneaking around, via security cameras, and shared on her podcast
that she felt "violated."
The family was gone from the home at the time, but Lisa also found it in her heart to have
a little sympathy for the offenders.
She said on her podcast,
"They looked young, probably, you know, unfortunately had a rough upbringing, a rough life ... and
you have to feel bad for kids like these.
I could just hope and pray that they get the help they need."
Since the attempted robbery, Lisa says the house — which previously had as many as
24 security and surveillance cameras — has been seriously upgraded.
Keeping up with the pandemic trend of welcoming a new pet into the home, the Valastro gang
added a new member in 2020: a sweet German shepherd named Duke.
This was a big milestone for Lisa, who had never lived with a big dog before.
"Is there dog food in this cake?!"
"No.
Maybe.
Actually, yeah.
There is."
"C'mere.
Alright, have a little cake."
Loyal "Cake Boss" fans already know and love the family's other dogs; two very tiny Yorkies,
Bella and Baci, who could fit into the palm of your hand.
As Lisa shared on her podcast, she was reluctant to go full hog on a big family dog.
But she changed her mind for a nostalgic reason.
As the story goes, when he was a kid, Buddy had a German Shepherd named Duke growing up.
And as Lisa explained on her show,
"My husband always talked about his dog Duke, about how loyal he was, about how he loved
him."
"When my dad used to come home, Duke used to actually lick his shoes."
But he went a little further than just talking about his favorite family dog.
In a March 2020 Facebook post, Buddy posted a few shots of their soon-to-be-family member,
writing,
"Trying to convince Lisa to let me get another dog...
#threescompany."
But, apparently, Lisa doesn't need much convincing when it comes to her family.
As she explained,
"When someone says they want something ... I try to do my best to make my husband and kids
happy.
So I went along with it and we got a German Shepherd."
Duke is professionally trained — and is even mostly taken care of by the Valastro
kids.
And while Duke is a ball of cuddles and fun with the family, Lisa knows he would be all-business
if he had to.
She said,
"We are living in a crazy world, and you can never be more protective of your family."
According to a survey conducted by BuzzFeed News, 23% of Americans hate it when a strong
whiff of weed follows them along on a leisurely evening stroll.
And so does Lisa Valastro.
On her podcast, she recounted her extreme discomfort caused by the pot smell on the
streets of Las Vegas, where she vacationed with her family — including her 10-year-old
son, Carlo.
While reiterating that she's not against people smoking weed, she also expressed her concern
for anyone who hates the smell — or worse, gets a headache from it.
Suggesting that there be designated smoking areas, she said,
"I can't imagine what my poor little Carlo was feeling.
It's not fair that you are invading my air space."
But it's not just the smell of marijuana that has Lisa vexed.
It's also the recent rules around it.
She referenced a 2021 bill signed by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, which makes it unlawful
for cops to notify the parents of children under 17 years if they are caught in possession
of booze or weed.
While the bill was a step towards ensuring that juveniles are not unfairly targeted by
the cops, for Lisa, the news felt like an assault on her rights as a parent to know
what her kids are up to.
When their daughter Sofia turned 18, Lisa took a little time to come to terms with the
fact that her daughter had become a legal adult.
On Sofia's actual birthday, Lisa got a letter from the pediatrician stating that she no
longer had access to Sophia's information.
Claiming it felt like a slap in the face, she said on her podcast,
"It's crazy, I did not expect that."
She was also shocked to learn that once Sophia went to college, if there was an emergency,
the doctors were not obligated to call the parents unless Sophia gave them permission.
Meanwhile, Lisa also has concerns over the sports her sons are into.
Specifically, lacrosse.
She said,
"I see how my son gets injured, and the bruises he comes home with and the slashes on the
neck ... and I am emotionally invested in this game."
Standing by as her sons get hit by fellow players — and also the highly-physical nature
of the game — has her worrying about the kids' safety.
She also wonders why only football games have an ambulance on standby and not lacrosse games
as well.
Sounds like this mama bear will do anything for her family.
And that's why we can't get enough of Lisa and the Valastro gang.
"We are a very close-knit family."
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