Rachael Ray is a charismatic and successful businesswoman with her own magazine and talk
show, a line of pet food, and a long relationship with the Food Network.
It seems like she has everything someone would want or need to provide for children, but
Ray has revealed that she doesn't plan on having kids.
Ray and husband John Cusimano have been together for 14 years as of 2019, according to Good
Housekeeping, but kids just aren't on the table for them.
They do have a beloved rescue dog Isaboo and it turns out that pet ownership is one of
the things that made Ray realize she didn't want to have children.
Back in 2007, she told People,
"I don't have time.
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."
It's obvious that Ray is a busy woman, and in 2010 she echoed her statement to People
when she told Good Housekeeping,
"I have four to five jobs on any given day, and I could use a couple more Rachaels."
Fast forward to 2019, and 50-year-old Ray seems busier than ever.
Her classic Food Network show 30 Minute Meals returned to television in April, and according
to E! News, Ray had to work late into the night writing recipes in order to prepare
for 30 new episodes of the show — and that's only after she finished working on her various
other projects.
Cusimano is busy too, working as a lawyer and playing in a rock band in his free time,
according to Cheatsheet.
"He's actually very easy to be married to, but you can't have him!"
If the couple had kids, it seems that not only would their professional lives suffer,
but they also would literally never have the chance to take a break.
According to The Wall Street Journal, when asked if she thought she was missing out on
something by not having kids, Ray confidently replied,
"I don't feel like I am.
I really don't."
And why would she?
With an estimated net worth of $80 million, a lawyer-and-rockstar husband, a hit TV show
and magazine, and the ability to travel the world whenever she pleases, it seems like
Ray has built herself the kind of life most people can only dream of.
The couple seems quite happy and fulfilled with their various career ambitions and obligations
— and thanks to Ray's non-profit Yum-O! she still has a chance to spend time with
kids even if she doesn't have any of her own.
Discussing why she became an advocate for cooking with kids, she explained to The New
York Times,
"Children have always been a focus for me."
Ray launched Yum-O! in 2006 as a way to, in her words:
"Empower kids and their families to develop healthy relationships with food and cooking
through three main initiatives: Cook, Feed, and Fund."
Ray and Cusimano may have been married for some time, but their relationship has had
its fair share of ups and downs.
The first rumor about the couple came from the National Enquirer back in 2006, when a
woman named claimed that she had an affair with Cusimano that went on for years.
According to People, Ray told her audience at the time,
"Everybody gossips.
[...] But this stuff is hurting people's feelings who are in our families and friends of ours.
They worry about us.
[...] The tabloids won't stop printing this junk until people stop buying it."
The next rumors of discontent between the two came in 2008, when the National Enquirer
reported on sources who said that in the fallout from the allegations of infidelity, Cusimano
and Ray were tense during the prior year's Christmas celebrations, and that Ray had even
kicked her husband out of their bedroom.
Then, once again in 2013, the National Enquirer reported that Cusimano had been hitting up
a swingers club with a paid escort.
Though the couple has categorically denied all of these allegations, if you pair any
sort of marital stress — including years of fighting ugly tabloid rumors — with a
packed schedule and a lack of desire for kids, and it's not surprising that the two haven't
had any children.
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