Rachael Ray Has A Good Reason For Not Wearing Her Original Wedding Ring: 'My Hand Was So Scarred'

Mar 28, 2022 by apost team

American TV personality, Rachael Ray, is one of the United States' most well-known chefs thanks to her countless cookbooks, work at The Sagamore restaurant, and television shows.

Born on August 25, 1968, Ray attended Lake George High School in the Adirondacks region of New York, where she was an honor student and cheerleader. She acted on her entrepreneurial spirit during those years by creating a gift food basket company called Delicious Liaisons. Ever the adventurer, she later moved into a cabin high in the mountains of northeast New York.

After graduating from high school, Ray moved to New York City to attend Pace University, where she majored in literature and communication. After two years, however, she decided to withdraw and get a job managing the candy counter at Macy's. She was soon offered a promotion to become a manager in their large fashion accessories department. While she continued to be successful there, she began to realize her passion was in the kitchen instead of behind the counter.

Ray hit her big break while working at Cowan & Lobal, a specialty market in Albany, New York, in the late 1990s. It was there where the chef developed a cooking course in which she'd show students how to cook a meal in 30 minutes or fewer, which WRGB, a local CBS station, picked up as a weekly television segment. Shortly thereafter, Ray landed a deal with the Food Network for "30 Minute Meals," which continues to air on the channel after more than two decades.

Read on to learn more about Ray and her husband, John Cusimano, and find out why she doesn't wear her original wedding ring set.

In the midst of her rising popularity, Ray found the love of her life in John M. Cusimano, a lawyer and lead singer of the New York-based indie rock band The Cringe. They met at a party back in 2001, around the time "30 Minute Meals" first began airing. They tied the knot on September 24, 2005, while on vacation in Montalcino in the Tuscany region of Italy. Concerning their first meeting, Rachael told AOL News, "We walked directly across the room to each other. My husband and I have been together on the phone or in-person every single day since the night we met."

The two remain in love and are happily married to this day. Cusimano works as the CEO of Ray's media company, Watch Entertainment, which now produces her television and online shows. In 2006, she told ABC News about the key to their successful relationship. "You know, my husband is the only guy in the world I could have married. The only man that can possibly exist that doesn't mind eating dinner at midnight, you know. I mean, he's a really easy-going guy."

Cusimano has stood by Ray through thick and thin, from the exponential growth of her food empire to their decision not to have children in 2007. As she told People that year, "I work too much to be an appropriate parent. I just feel like I would do a bad job if I actually took the time to literally give birth to a kid right now and try and juggle everything I'm doing." When not working, the two divide their time between the rustic cabin in the Adirondacks and a home in Southampton, New York.

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In 2021, Ray opened up about the story behind her original wedding ring set and why she no longer wears it. "Mine was a twin set from Tiffany. I never asked John anything about marriage. I figured we had been together for so long, we weren't going to get married. We had been together for years, we had already bought our apartment. He threw the Tiffany diamond ring at my head — it's a long story, but it was very funny. Not in a mean way, just sort of chucked it across the room. He won't repeat the speech he gave," she shared.

Unfortunately, Ray could not continue to wear her rings because of her job. She said:

"It was a platinum set — the engagement ring and the wedding ring. Unfortunately, I cook so much and platinum is such a fine metal that it burned my hand and my hand was so scarred, we couldn't hide it with makeup or powder. It just kept cooking my hand, so I had to get cheaper metal. I had to get a soft gold ring. And I like black much more than I like white, and we're very dark people, so we changed our rings."

The celebrity chef added: "In a good way, though! We like nighttime, we like rock music. I don't mean dark like we're evil or something. We ended up with black diamond rings. John had this one made for me, I had that one made for him. His diamonds are inverted. They're spiky, so it's cool on stage."

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