The world may know her as the Pioneer Woman today, but Ree Drummond first found fame in the
early 2000s when she started a blog. She has had quite the life story, finding her way to the place
she now calls home. Here's a closer look at Ree Drummond''s stunning transformation.
Ree Drummond was born Anne Marie "Ree" Smith in 1969, and she grew up in Bartlesville , Oklahoma.
She had big dreams and constantly challenged herself. She had plans to hit it big far away
from home. Reminiscing about her childhood in an interview with People, she shared,
"I always thought, there's a big, huge world out there beyond this."
"In my head, it was always a given that Bartlesville was way too small for me."
One way in which Drummond was able to see more of the country was through her ballet competitions.
Dancing made her think about the entertainment industry
and a possible future in show business. She said,
"When I was young, I wanted to be an actress.
I had no idea what that meant, but I just thought it sounded fun."
And while show business was definitely in her future, it wasn't what she expected.
Drummond ventured to Los Angeles for college. As The New Yorker reported, the future star
attended the University of Southern California. Drummond spent her early 20s believing she fit in
well in L.A., and could picture a certain kind of future on the West Coast. She told People,
"I'm pretty sure I could've ended up on Real Housewives of Orange County.
They need a fair-skinned redhead."
But Drummond's future was far from there.
She worked in Los Angeles for a few years, then headed back home to Oklahoma for what
was meant as a pitstop to prep for her next life adventure. It ended up being permanent.
Believe it or not, there was a time when Ree Drummond wasn't a meat eater. As she revealed on
her blog, she suddenly decided to go vegetarian her freshman year in college. She wrote,
"I'm still, to this day, not sure why. I never had any real aversion to meat itself,
nor was I necessarily against the practice of raising animals
for the purposes of meat production, nor did I question the nutritive or health value of meat,
nor was I ethically or morally opposed to the idea of eating meat."
She shared more in an interview with Closer Weekly, relating that, years later,
a Jack in the Box sourdough bacon cheeseburger caught her eye and she relented. She said,
"It was the best thing I'd ever put in my mouth!"
She told Taste of Home that her chosen final meal would be anything but vegetarian: beef tenderloin
with creamed spinach, sauteed mushrooms, and mac and cheese with bacon and caramelized onions.
When Ree Drummond found herself back home after school,
the unexpected happened when she went out to the bar with friends.
As she described in her book The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels,
"That's when I saw him — the cowboy — across the room."
She convinced herself that meeting this man didn't change the facts, writing
"I was headed to Chicago. To a new city. To a new
life. I had zero business getting attached to anyone around there,
let alone some Wrangler–wearing cowboy with salt-and-pepper hair."
But get attached is what she did. She ended up staying in Oklahoma,
and, at 27 years old, she married that cowboy, Ladd Drummond, in 1996. She told People,
"I didn't even know any cowboys growing up. When my friends
heard that I was marrying a cattle rancher and moving to the country,
they literally could not believe it. [...] They started calling me the Pioneer Woman as a joke."
"Hi, sweaty! I mean, sweetie!"
After marrying Ladd, Ree moved to his family ranch near Pawhuska,
Oklahoma. It was an extreme lifestyle change, especially after spending years in Los Angeles,
and it took her time to adjust. She told the Associated Press,
"It was, kind of just, love that got me out here, and then after we got married I thought,
'Oh my gosh, what have I done?' You know, 'Where am I, and this is real? I live in the country.'"
But she soon realized how wonderful it was — and
how wrong her preconceptions of the country had been. She told People,
"I remember living in Los Angeles and coming home and eating lunch
with my grandmother and her friends and just thinking, 'Oh! Their worlds are so small.'
After I moved back and actually started having regular lunches with them, I realized they were
this amazing, dynamic group of women who got together and would debate issues."
Ree gave birth to four children, two girls and two boys, over the next decade. Not only
was she raising her children, she was also homeschooling them. So when Ladd told her
that he was taking all of the kids with him to work one day in May 2006, Drummond didn't
know what to do with herself. It was the then 37-year-old's first chunk of time alone in years.
According to The New Yorker, she decided, quote, "to start one of those blog things" for fun.
In an interview with Design and Living magazine, she said,
"I just started with a personal blog, free software online and no plan at all
except that I would post photos and my mom would read it.
It enabled me to express a creative side that I didn't know I had. I lived in the
country for 10 years at that point, so maybe it stored up and needed to come out somehow."
Ree Drummond would post recipes to her blog, The Pioneer Woman, each month, and her audience kept
growing. After a couple of years of writing, it was time for her to become a full-fledged author.
Drummond had plans for a cookbook, but she didn't limit herself to just recipes.
She also took the photos. She told Design and Living magazine,
"Obviously, I had no idea what I was doing. I had been a food blogger for
a couple of years and taught myself photography."
After The Pioneer Woman Cooks:
Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl was released in 2009, Drummond shared,
"Even though I look at it now and could say,
'Oh this should be better,' I wouldn't change a thing about it. It was my first cookbook."
In 2011, The New Yorker interviewed the then-42-year-old Drummond and others about
her success. Talk of a possible movie, based on her book Black Heels to Tractor Wheels,
came up. Movie producer Laura Ziskin , who had optioned the book, shared,
"When you look at the book, or you look at the cookbook, you think,
I'd like to do that. I don't care if there's cow dung on the porch, it looks pretty good to me."
Reese Witherspoon was reportedly in talks to star in the film at one point.
Since then, there hasn't been much word on the movie,
but there's plenty of the Pioneer Woman on TV, in books and online for fans in the meantime.
Drummond is the first to say that she knows her lifestyle is not for everyone. In 2011, she told
BookPage what her life would have been like if she had never moved to the country. She said,
"Yeah, I shudder. I am thoroughly convinced that I am where I was
meant to wind up. In the country we really lead an isolated life [...] we're just together,
we're out here, we're on the land and in the quiet."
"Favorite thing about country life?"
"The quiet."
She also understands herself well enough to know what she
needs in her day-to-day life. She continued,
"It's not that everyone needs [the quiet] to maintain
some level of peace and contentment, but I needed it. It centered me."
Ree Drummond is refreshingly honest on her blog and social media,
including about topics like exercise. She shared her and her husband's fitness
goals in a yoga-inspired Instagram Story in December 2017. She wrote,
"He's a cattle ranching athlete stud-muffin,
but he can't touch his toes and he wants more flexibility."
Drummond shared her own goals, too, saying,
"I can put my ankles behind my head and need no help with flexibility,
but my jeans are tight and I want a small bottom and a six-pack."
So how did it go? Drummond continued,
"The funny part is that I got so winded carrying the yoga mats back to the hotel that I had to stop
and rest. The only thing that gave me the strength to continue on my own was fear of ridicule."
Ree Drummond has been married to Ladd, her "Marlboro Man," for more than 20 years,
and fans are clamoring to know what the couple's secret to longevity is. In an issue of The Pioneer
Woman Magazine, a reader inquired about what the happy couple does on date nights. Ree responded
that they love to watch movies together, mostly at home. The closest theater is almost an hour away,
so they save their visits for special releases. Drummond shared on her website they both love
westerns, as well as, quote, "any of the Godfather movies and '80s flicks."
Another secret? The duo makes sure their feet touch when they're laying in bed. Ree told People,
"I know that if our feet touch before we go to sleep at night,
we're not going to bed upset or angry."
Even with all her accomplishments,
Ree Drummond wants even more, which is why she recently decided to go into fashion.
Her line — inspired by her own casual, comfy dress sense — hit Walmart in late 2020.
Drummond first worked out what kind of shape and fit she wanted
for the pieces before moving on to colors and patterns, noting,
"It's very important to me that the clothing be gorgeous and great quality but affordable."
Fans are constantly asking Drummond where she buys her signature flowy
blouses whenever she posts an outfit selfie, so her line is surely a huge hit.
Drummond's book Frontier Follies: Adventures in Marriage & Motherhood in the Middle of Nowhere
goes deeper into her life than ever before. It documents all the hardships and triumphs
that have happened along the way. Drummond revealed on Instagram,
"In this book of real-life stories from the ranch, I talk about marital spats,
parenting neuroses , run-ins with wildlife, ER visits, triumphs, tribulations, love,
loss [...] and some unexpected new developments in our lives."
The Food Network stalwart described the book as a, quote,
"deep dive and a fun romp," and as "both a love letter and a laugh letter."
Drummond promised readers will get the chance to know her better, too.
Motherhood has certainly changed Ree Drummond for the better, as detailed in
her bestselling book The New Frontier. But it's also brought unexpected difficulties,
as she discussed in a wide-ranging interview with Cowboys & Indians. Drummond recalled,
"When Alex, my oldest, left for college in 2015, it was sad and difficult as is always the case
when the first kid goes to college. [...] But I still had my second daughter, Paige, at home, so
while we experienced a void where Alex had been, the vibe in our household was still the same."
When Paige left in 2018, everything changed. Suddenly, their home became a "man cave,"
where sports ruled and Drummond had to work extra hard to maintain a female energy. But the newfound
sense of calm and quiet has also given her space to focus and experiment creatively in her own way.
Ree Drummond is adamant that there's nothing particularly special about her or her approach.
In an interview with BookPage, she said,
"I know this sounds a little funny, but I contend that I am not an extraordinary person;
there's nothing extraordinary about me or my story."
As the Food Network star sees it, anybody could do what she does. She said,
"I think everyone has a story — I've just found a
fun way to tell my story and convey my day-to-day life."
Even her enviable marriage is something Drummond downplays, saying,
"The passion [...] propels you forward through the tough times."
Drummond knows that putting in the effort in work, life, and love pays off in the end, and that's
the message she wants to communicate with fans looking to follow in her footsteps. She noted,
"I am thoroughly convinced that I am where I was meant to wind up."
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