Rachael Ray Reflects on a Tough 3 Years of Losing Her Dog and
rachael ray is looking forward to it after three difficult years.
While TV personality lost his home in a devastating fire and later his family dog, Ray prepares for season 17 of his daytime talk show, The Rachael Ray Show. et’s rachel smith spoke with ray ahead of the new season premiere, where he discussed filming from his home in tuscany, italy.
“we bought the land there over four years ago,” ray says of his tuscan villa. “a lot has happened since then, but it took all that time to build it, because we had to do it on zoom. who builds a house on zoom? and in a different language.”
continues, “and in the meantime, as everyone knows, we lost isaboo, may he rest in peace, and we lost our house, and our apartment flooded, I mean, it was a strange three years”.
ray has been so busy between the show and her home in italy, she said she was pretty sure season 17 had already aired.
“I don’t even have any concept of time anymore,” ray admits. you just said the premiere is next week, and I’m like, ‘is it? not up yet? because we shot the two part movie in italy last week, i flew here in the morning, we landed at night, the next morning we started the shows here.”
“but that was only two days ago,” he adds. “We’re six shows now. I’m like, ‘what?’ my head is mush, and today I did seven shows before I came to these three shows.”
with this upcoming season, ray is letting the cameras into his life more than ever, showing both his home in italy and his daily life there.
“I got over the fear: We always try to keep a small portion of our lives private to ourselves, but it’s actually very cathartic and liberating to include people, and we always film the show mostly unscripted,” she explains ray. “and i tried to be as real as possible with people, from the early days in food network to everything we’ve tried to do here on this tv production, but it just kind of became weird. that first line, we talked about it, Before I walk through the door, ‘oh my gosh,’ like a panic attack. We’re going to let people in here.”
“and I’m going to record television without makeup,” she adds. “and I’m going to work in my own kitchen, and they’re going to see my house, and they’re going to see the delivery guy come and ring the doorbell and break the dishwasher – people still love that. Even now, in season 17, It’s crazy that we’re shooting, from January to the end of the season, we’re shooting from home.”
despite the vulnerability that comes with filming from home, ray said he loves sharing his life with people and letting them see the world they live in.
“it’s beautiful and we love sharing it with people,” says ray. “and i think people will be excited to see that world. we live in a very small town. it’s like where we live upstate. it’s a very small community. we know everyone. the same places over and over again, we see the same faces over and over again, and it’s a very small little community.”
Despite the occasional celebrity guests (Kate Hudson, Cameron Diaz, and a few musicians), Ray said his life in Tuscany isn’t “extravagant” and is very comparable to that of a farmer in the Italian countryside.
p>
“We live in Santino, and the closest big city people would go to for sightseeing is Montalcino,” he says. “It’s about a half hour away, but it feels like three hours’ because all our roads there are like, ‘woo-hoo,’ winding dirt roads, but we wanted to show people that life there is not extravagant, it’s like the life of a farmer or the life of a country person.”
Get a glimpse into Ray’s life in Italy when Rachael Ray season 17 premieres in September. 12.
related content
rachael ray takes a look inside her renovated home after the fire
Inside Rachael Ray’s Return To The Studio 20 Months Later (Exclusive)
rachael ray gives an update on rebuilding the house after last year’s fire
