Celebrity chef Rachael Ray has been a significant part of the culinary world for several years.
What many fans of Ray's may not know is that she's been married to her husband, John Cusimano,
for over 15 years. They first met at a birthday party and hit it off pretty quickly. Ray gushed
about the night they met on a Valentine's Day episode of The Rachael Ray Show, explaining:
"And we crossed a crowded room and started talking
and we have talked everyday since the night we met. We did."
As a pair, they've been through a lot together and emerged stronger. According to Good Housekeeping,
the couple found themselves dealing with an unwanted controversy in 2006 when a tabloid
claimed that Cusimano had been unfaithful in his marriage and cheated on Ray with
a Florida woman. The couple denied the rumors and they didn't let the gossip bring them down.
And according to Cheatsheet, ten years after their wedding, they decided to renew their wedding vows
in Tuscany, Italy. While explaining why her husband is the right man for her, Ray said:
"I can't give a man an enormous amount of attention, and John is totally down with that."
Although this may not work for every couple, it works well for these two,
especially since Cusimano has a thriving career of his own to focus on.
Like his wife, John Cusimano has a big streak of creativity. He serves
as the lead vocalist in his band, The Cringe. A multi-talented musician,
Cusimano plays the guitar and enjoys writing lyrics for original songs. While the band is
largely independent, they've managed to achieve a significant amount of success
and have often been the opening act for groups like Fuel, The New York Dolls, and Mötley Crüe.
And besides his music career, Cusimano is also a practicing attorney and has practiced
law in New York city as an entertainment lawyer. John told the Rachael Ray Show:
"Then I met this one, and now I only have one client and her name is Rachel Ray.
So I just work on our businesses all the time."
Ray explained her husband's talent on her show, stating:
"John is a musician. He wanted to go to Berklee School of Music and was
accepted and he's a terrific musician and plays 57 different instruments."
But she explained that he ultimately pursued law to please his parents. Ray also said that:
"He really is a master of keyboards,
every stringed instrument; he's especially great with percussion."
According to Us Weekly, Rachael Ray recently revealed that she and her
husband have worked with each other for a long time but had
to learn to tweak their work styles during the pandemic. Ray explained:
"John and I have always worked together, but in separate buildings.
John focuses on the business dealings and all of the different facets of our brand
while I make TV shows in the studio all day."
The pandemic has also been an opportunity for Ray to see how her husband works behind the scenes
and John has now had the chance to see his wife work on shooting her TV shows. Ray stated:
"Since we have been making TV at home John has had to take on a million roles.
He has done 10,000 loads of dishes. He's a cameraman and tech services."
As far as Cusimano's music is concerned,
he's received a lot of support from his wife. Cusimano told Billboard in 2015:
"She's our best and biggest fan, tremendously supportive
whether it's on social media or talking about it on the show, which is great."
He added that his wife's support helps his band in many ways, especially when it comes to exposure.
Rachael Ray is just as big a music fan as her husband is
and the pair tries to listen to anything they can get their hands on. Ray told USA Today:
"We love rap. We love opera. We love classic rock and good pop.
And that is what we try to put into the mix and we have done that every year."
And they love collecting vinyl records together. Adorable, right?
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