Rachael Ray is profiled on 'The E! True Hollywood Story' Saturday, May 5, at on E! Entertainment Television.
As if Rachael Ray doesn't have enough fame, E! Entertainment Television is stirring the pot.
The lively celebrity chef becomes the subject of The E! True Hollywood Story Saturday, May 5. The new hour traces Ray's upstate New York roots - including the birth of her 30-Minute Meals at an Albany-area television station, and her cooking demonstrations for a supermarket chain - then details her Manhattan-based successes as a professional food buyer, Food Network star and syndicated talk show host.
Ray's personal side also gets attention, partially through comments from her mother and past and current co-workers. In a new interview, Ray herself talks about her marriage to musician and entertainment lawyer John Cusimano, her concerns about tabloid gossip impacting those close to her, and her feelings about websites that revel in criticising her.
In a separate interview, Ray discussed landing in the E! True Hollywood Story spotlight and staying upright in an intensified whirlwind since last fall's debut of the weekday Rachael Ray show.
What prompted you to take such an active role in your 'E! True Hollywood Story' episode when so many others use only archival footage of the subject?
A guy who was filming it and was very involved in the show is an old, dear friend. If anyone is interested in talking to to you about your life, why not be nice about it and talk to them?
I mean, it's flattering that people are interested on that level. Personally, I don't understand being that interested in a waitress from upstate New York, but I find my story kind of fun for people in that it's one of those American-dream kind of things. Anyone can be anything in this country, so I approached it from that point of view. I think there's a nice lesson there.
Did you know beforehand who the producers were going to interview about you?
They were very polite in asking me if it was OK for them to call my family and to approach personal friends. Beyond that, they didn't ask. I don't even know what the tone of the thing is. Who knows? They could hate me.
People are going to think and say whatever they want about me, and you know, "Sticks and stones ... ." I was raised by someone who says, "(You should) like people until you have a reason not to." There's still going to be a 'Rachael Ray Sucks'website tomorrow; I could call the lady who runs it and say, "Hey, I'm really a pretty nice person," and she'd still think what she thinks. You can't be all things to all people, so why try?
From the inside looking out, how have things been for you since your weekday show began in September?
I find it so joyous. We have such a wonderful 'family' here. They bring their kids or their dogs to work - one lady brings her cat - and they work so hard. We really make the viewers the stars; they're so much a part of the content, and when we got all those Daytime Emmy nominations (seven, including outstanding talk show and talk show host), I was just so excited for our viewers and our staff. It was such a nice, big hug, it's like they're all nominated.
Were you aware the nominations were being announced on the morning they were?
No, I was at work on 30-Minute Meals. I wasn't even in the building (where Rachael Ray is taped). My whole staff was watching, because they're TV people. I don't usually have any idea about that stuff except for the Oscars, because I love watching them. I'm such a movie buff. As for my own industry, I don't even know how you get nominated. I don't know how any of that works.
Has the weekday show fulfilled everything you hoped it would?
And then some. I'm so proud that some of our viewers have become regulars on the show, and they're their own Rachael Rays now. They have development deals, and it's really exciting. I'm over the moon about that.
You've had so many celebrities on 'Rachael Ray' by now, do you find yourself much more comfortable talking to them on the air?
Yeah, and you know what? We don't treat them like movie stars, but just like next-door neighbours. I think they find that refreshing. We don't just plug a film or something; we let them be themselves and chitchat about fun little cocktail-party things.
How was the recent experience of seeing your wax likeness at Madame Tussaud's for the first time?
She looks so much cuter than me in that dress, it pisses me off! And she's got bigger boobs and a bigger engagement ring than I got. It's really weird; it freaked me out big-time, just scared the life out of me. It's creepy, but in a nice way.
It was another one of those moments: "I can't believe I'm on Oprah's show!" "I can't believe Diane Sawyer wrote me a note last week!" "I can't believe I'm in a wax museum!" It's just the kookiest thing.
Do you have enough time tosift through the additional opportunities now coming your way, on top of the schedule you already maintain?
I've never been a person who's liked to balance life. It doesn't matter what the job is, I like the feeling of a 12- to-14-hour day. I get a lot of life out of every minute of my day.
When I go home, I'll make dinner at 10 o'clock; I only spend two hours with my husband, but we have a blast. We listen to music or watch Law & Order, have a glass of wine, play with the dogs.
I'm extremely busy and I get busier every day, but I can't complain. I'd live the same way doing any other job. It's just how I am.
- Jay Bobbin, Zap2it
