A date to plan other dates and a forever happily ever after? From 'Love at First Rancic'
to 'Building a Life in Sync,' Giuliana and Bill Rancic have truly 'scripted' their own romance!
Giuliana DePandi met Bill Rancic after he won
Season 1 of The Apprentice. As a former correspondent for E! News,
she interviewed him about his accomplishment and what followed was an interview filled with magic.
Sparks between Giuliana and Bill were instant. With the primary interview
being about his winnings and donating a car he won to research kidney cancer,
the interview quickly turned into a round of speed dating when Giuliana asked Bill about
his love life. He seemed as interested in her personal life as she was in his.
Bill teased the cameras and asked viewers if they thought they should tie the knot
before they both switched lanes and talked about their careers. Giuliana admitted to
being attracted to entrepreneurs and Bill joked about showing up at her
home if she was the lucky winner of the car he was auctioning off.
"'You need those young guys, right?' 'No.' 'Those young Californian surfers.' 'No,
no! I don't like that.' 'Really?' 'No, no, no. I like a businessman.'"
By the end of the interview, a first date was on the horizon.
Giuliana Rancic was already a huge fan of Bill Rancic
before the two started dating. She told HuffPost:
"I would watch ["The Apprentice"] with my girlfriend Colette every week,
and Colette's like, 'You need to marry him.' I'm like, 'I do need to marry him.'"
Bill revealed to ABC News that things moved quickly after their initial on
camera meeting. He took Giuliana on a date in Malibu and they went over
their busy schedules to see when they could meet next. He said:
"We were making plans for three, four months out. That was on our first date. We had our phones out
and we were like, 'In July, I gotta go here, maybe you can meet me,' and this was in March,
two hours into the first date. It was the craziest thing ever."
Knowing how right they were for each other, a busy Memorial Day weekend in Chicago
only solidified things more for the pair. Bill wanted to show Giuliana a good time,
so he took her to a Chicago Cubs game, then he brought her to some
of his favorite places and she met his friends. Bill told E! News:
"That was the end of my dating world."
Bill Rancic wasted no time in proposing to his now wife,
Giuliana Rancic. Bill told ABC News all about his romantic proposal and revealed
it came with some hurdles and broken glass. In December 2006, Bill decided to propose to
Giuliana on a helicopter while overlooking Chicago's skyline.
Bill had a limo pick up Giuliana from the airport and instead of dropping her off at his house,
the driver dropped her off in an open field by the airport. Bill and a helicopter were waiting for
her, and as they jetted off into the night sky, Bill popped champagne for the two to drink. But
he said the proposal was almost a bust when he took a knee on a champagne glass. He admitted:
"It shattered and even though it wasn't the smoothest move in the world, I still proposed."
Giuliana said yes.
Giuliana Rancic was born in Naples, Italy, and has a strong connection
to her Italian roots. Although she moved to the United States as a child,
she knew wanted to get married in her homeland. With just under 200 guests,
the Rancics had a traditional Catholic mass on the Italian island of Capri. The couple
also shared their wedding in a televised special, Married Away: Giuliana and Bill's Italian Wedding.
Bill's childhood priest married the couple in Capri's Santa Sofia church, according to People.
Giuliana wore a stunning Monique Lhuillier wedding gown and her sister was her maid of
honor. One of the coolest parts of their wedding came on their way to the reception. The bride
and groom walked and danced with their guests and townspeople in the town square at night.
The Rancics became universally adored thanks to the Style Network's reality
TV show Giuliana & Bill, which premiered in 2009. With Giuliana Rancic having a
thriving TV career in Los Angeles, and Bill Rancic's home base being in Chicago,
their whirlwind marriage made for great television.
As newlyweds, a large portion of the series dissected their journey
of finding a home base and starting a family. Viewers saw them choose
between Bill's preference for Chicago and Giuliana's love for Los Angeles. The couple
was very open about their struggles with infertility and carrying a child to term.
After the Style Network folded, the series moved over to the E! Network
where it remained until the end of its seventh season. The pair continued appearing on TV,
however. Giuliana was a host for Fashion Police and Bill began hosting the show We Mean Business.
In 2010, Giuliana and Bill Rancic shared more with the world about their successful relationship in a
raw autobiography titled I do, Now What?: Secrets, Stories, and Advice from a Madly-in-Love Couple.
The successful couple has been busy with work commitments since they met, but they detailed how
they made each other a priority while achieving their personal goals. And what made the book a
fan-favorite was the light-hearted and authentic way it presented one of TV's best couples. Even
though the pair adored each other, they remained honest about their differences and even arguments.
Following the success of their autobiography,
Giuliana went on to write another book in 2015, titled Going Off Script:
How I Survived a Crazy Childhood, Cancer, and Clooney's 32 On-Screen Rejections.
Despite having a successful career and a caring husband,
Giuliana Rancic's life was anything but perfect. During their third round of IVF
and filming Giuliana & Bill, Giuliana was diagnosed with breast cancer.
"I was diagnosed with breast cancer at 36 years
old and I had no family history of it. And it was a real shock."
Giuliana told CBS News that she was caught off guard by the diagnosis
since the only thing on her brain was conceiving a child. She said:
"I was totally blindsided at 36 years old — totally blindsided.
No family history of breast cancer, and I got diagnosed."
Giuliana revealed to Parade that she'd had a double lumpectomy to clear some of the
cancerous cells that could have spread to other parts of her body. But the surgery was unable to
entirely remove the cancer so Giuliana opted for a double mastectomy. She explained to Today in 2011:
"For me, it was important to get the cancer out. That's what I wanted to do, just get it out."
Those who have watched Giuliana & Bill know that the couple had a hard time conceiving
a child. Although the couple had some hardships getting pregnant,
it only brought the couple closer. Viewers watched the Rancics go through three rounds
of in vitro fertilization but because of the toll it took on Giuliana's body,
the couple chose to keep certain aspects of their journey private.
Once Giuliana was cleared of breast cancer, she and Bill re-centered their focus on having a
baby. This time, however, instead of putting her body through continued stress with IVF,
the Rancics found a surrogate. The two initially kept the surrogate's information private,
but Bill told Us Weekly that they hit the gestational carrier lottery.
In 2012, the Rancics' surrogate, Delphine,
gave birth to a healthy baby boy. The happy couple named their son Duke Edward
Rancic. They finally got the family they had always longed for, with Giuliana tweeting:
"It's true what they say (and what u all told
us) ... [Bill]and I couldn't love little Duke anymore than we do. He's a dream."
Outside of working in TV and media, the Rancics created an umbrella of business ventures. With a
child in tow, Bill and Giuliana set their sights on the restaurant business. In 2012, after careful
research and partnership with Lettuce Entertain You, the Rancics opened RPM Italian in Chicago.
With a menu based on Giuliana's Italian family's recipes, the restaurant became a big success.
To continue giving the country popular recipes and a chic dining experience,
the Rancics opened RPM Steak two years later and,
in 2020, opened RPM Seafood. And while Chicago remained a hot spot for the RPM restaurants,
the couple expanded their restaurants to Las Vegas, Washington DC, and West Palm Beach.
"'It's our ninth RPM.' 'My god.' 'We have them in D.C,
we have Vegas that just opened and we're opening in West Palm Beach.'"
Outside of owning restaurants, Giuliana started her own business ventures in the
beverage and fashion world. She owns Giuliana Prosecco, the wine label,
Xo, G, and the fashion line, G by Giuliana Rancic.
After living in Los Angeles for over a decade, Giuliana Rancic decided to take the plunge and
move to her husband's hometown of Chicago full-time. In a 2020 interview with People,
Giuliana explained that the family of three split their time between
Los Angeles and Chicago but when their son, Duke, got to an age where moving constantly
could affect his friendships and school work, they made the move permanently.
The couple sold their LA house for $10.7 million before the pair moved into their dream home in
the Chicago suburbs. And Giuliana has come to love Chicago. She told People:
"I won't be in LA on set as much. There's a lot of work in New York and Chicago,
too. I don't have to pick one or the other."
Giuliana and Bill Rancic may no longer be on reality TV, but the pair shares snippets of
their lives on social media. Giuliana's Instagram account shows what the family of three has been up
to since Giuliana left E! News and ventured to the Midwest. While they're still busy, it appears they
get to spend more time with the people they love. Giuliana told Better Homes & Gardens:
"We have such a rich social life in Chicago. That just wasn't the
case in Los Angeles. It seemed like one giant office with great weather."
And Bill chimed in, saying:
"We knew the family who lived here before, and they put a great vibe in this house that
we hope to continue. We've always had one foot here, and now we have two. Finally, we're home."
Giuliana continues to sell her clothing line on HSN,
while Bill has been hosting business conventions. After over a decade of marriage,
the couple is still going strong and loving the time they have with their son.