John Cusimano and Rachael Ray. Adam Nemser/Startraks
Rachael Ray is continuing to offer an honest look into her marriage to John Cusimano.
During the Tuesday, October 29, episode of her “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead” podcast, Ray, 56, told guest Billy Crudup about the secret to a successful relationship.
“I am very wildly, wildly, wildly lucky that I have my husband,” she gushed. “But he understands I need my space.”
Ray explained that Cusimano, 57, also likes time for himself adding, “He needs his space. John and I largely stay in separate corners.”
Earlier this month, Ray admitted she and Cusimano have gotten “huge screaming matches” in the past.
“It’s very hard, especially for hot-tempered or creative or vociferous loud people to be able to just calm it down,” she told Jenny Mollen during the debut episode of her podcast. “John and I don’t calm it down ever. We have huge screaming matches all the time, but I think that’s healthy. I really do. And I don’t trust people that are too quiet.”
Ray found that being too quiet “freaks” her out. “Let’s just get it all out there,” she noted. “Eventually, I pat him on his ass, or he kisses me on the head, and that’s just sort of it. That’s the apology. It’s just sort of understood.”
Rachael Ray and John Cusimano. Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for National Geographic
After meeting in 2001, Ray and Cusimano dated for several years before exchanging vows in 2005.
“We balance each other, we always have,” she told People in 2022. “We knew we’d get through this together.”
Ray and Cusimano’s romance hasn’t been without its challenges though. In 2020, Ray recalled having to adjust to being in close quarters amid the COVID pandemic.
“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,” Ray told Us Weekly exclusively in August 2020. “But now we do everything together which of course is a huge adjustment.”
Their quarantine work arrangement helped the pair learn about each other.
“I think that we now have a better understanding of the role each of us has played, behind the scenes,” Ray continued. “I don’t normally get to hear what he does during all the business calls that would happen in a day … and he doesn’t see how much work goes into making TV shows.”
Ray’s candidness has extended to her own health lately, with the cookbook author revealing she suffered “a couple bad falls.”
“I am a homemaker. I really like chores. I like what people consider physical work. I like making dinner, planning dinners, making lists. I love physical labor, helping carry in the wood,” she revealed on her podcast in October. “I’ve had a couple of bad falls in the last couple of weeks, so I haven’t been doing that in a while.”