Her Love
Giada De Laurentiis is one of the most popular culinary geniuses on the food network. Although she is popular on the Food Network, there's quite a bit about her that most people would be surprised to know. For example, there have been several rumors to spread about her extramarital relationships with co-stars of the Food Network.
The likes of Bobby Flay, Guy Fieri, Rachael Ray, Paula Deen, Alton Brown and Ina Garten have managed to build up their cooking careers and venture into the world of popular culture… and all without a scratch on their reputation. So why is it that rumors seem to keep surrounding Giada? What is her life really like when the cameras are turned off?
For most of her life, Giada De Laurentiis has always had a love for cooking – but in the early 2000s, a new love entered her life. In 2003, Giada left the single life behind her and married Todd Thompson, a famous fashion designer. The pair seemed to be in a loving relationship and lived a happy life together until things became too much for the TV chef.
How Wolfgang Puck Launched Her Career
In 2014, Giada announced to her fans that she and Todd had decided to separate, and their divorce was officially finalized in 2015. Find out the rumor she confirms about her new love life...
After learning new and exciting skills in Paris, Giada De Laurentiis returned to the United States with the intention to score her first professional cooking gig. Before too long, she had made a name for herself within major restaurants in Los Angeles, including Spago – a high-profile restaurant owned by the one and only Wolfgang Puck.
An Impressive Net Worth
After many years of working in the restaurant circuit, Giada changed her career direction slightly to become a food stylist for magazines. Little did she know that one article, in particular, would change the rest of her life.
Overall, Giada De Laurentiis is a hugely talented individual. As a skilled chef, television presenter, author, and businesswoman, Giada has turned her hands to numerous business ventures that has resulted in a pretty hefty net worth.
Cheating Rumors
Giada is reportedly worth around $15 million, but it’s believed that her net worth was dented during her divorce. As if that wasn’t enough, Giada also has to pay her ex a whopping $9,000 a month in child support – but it seems as if she has enough to cover those expenses.
Food Network star Giada De Laurentiis wanted to be famous for more than just chicken piccata and lasagna rolls sultrily prepared on TV. Well-publicized allegations that she had high-wire flings with Bobby Flay, Matt Lauer, and John Mayer before supposedly busting up her own marriage — and that of TV producer Shane Farley, with whom she was recently spotted canoodling on the beach in Mexico — have made De Laurentiis’s wish come true.
New Beau
Albeit not in the way she had hoped. To really understand this, we have to take a peak into who she really is...
Since her divorce from her husband, Giada has started dating the executive producer of FABLife, Shane Farley. Giada gushed about her man on The Wendy Williams Show which led her fans to do a lot of digging on him.
Did she know anything about Mario Batali's allegedly crude behavior?
They discovered that Shane also worked in the food world just like Giada as he was once the producer of Rachel Ray’s cooking show. He was also once a producer on The Tony Danza show in 2004.
Mario Batali was one of the first of the culinary giants to fall in the post-Weinstein reckoning of powerful male figures being held to account for allegations of sexual misconduct. In December 2017, three former employees came forward to accuse Batali of groping and inappropriate touching, which eventually led the Croc-wearing superchef to announce that he would be stepping away from his restaurants and TV obligations.
Her trademark smile
Naturally, this has led to the media scrambling for reactions from Batali's peers, a group in which De Laurentiis is obviously included.
Since her first foray into the world of television hosting, Giada De Laurentiis has been known for her beautiful smile. Viewers rarely see her without a smile on her face, and rarely see her in a bad mood – which is one of the many reasons so many people tune in to watch her shows.
No Touching
However, it seems this smile may hide something much deeper. According to reports, her TV show producer, Irene Wong, told Giada that she needed to push through the discomfort of heavy pots and uncomfortable burns and simply smile through it…even if her cheeks were in huge amounts of pain.
One thing that many celebrities have to deal with is fans coming up to them to get a picture or even a hug. However, Giada wishes that her fans would just talk to her and not touch her.
An Award Winner
She said, “I wish I could say no touchy-touchy,” but unfortunately for Giada, if she did that she probably wouldn’t have any more fans. She also explained that since she is a female chef, people are, “A little less intimidated to come up to .”
Yet, Giada hasn’t just achieved two number one best-selling books. Thanks to her time on the Food Network, she was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award as an Outstanding Lifestyle Host and for a Gracie Award as the Best Television Host… and won both times!
There's So Much She's Kept To Herself
As if this wasn’t enough to skyrocket her popularity, fame, and fortune, Giada de Laurentiis was also inducted into the Culinary Hall of Fame in 2012, something many budding chefs only dream of achieving.
With so many celebrity chefs to tune into, it can be tough to choose which recipes to follow – but if you love true, hearty, Italian cuisine, there’s no question about it. Of course, it has to be Giada de Laurentiis.
Something Was Always Missing
However, there is so much more to this Italian-American television chef than meets the eye. From a drastic career change to an international move, to an onscreen feud with one of the biggest actresses in the world of Hollywood, a rough divorce and more, this is everything you need to know about Giada…
For most of her early life, Giada was obsessed with cooking but knew that a career in food was risky business. So, after her parent’s divorce, Giada, her mother, and her siblings moved to Los Angeles, where she obtained her high school diploma and applied for college.
How Her Time In Paris Changed Her Forever
Rather than applying for culinary classes or cookery school, Giada studied social anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles. Yet, when she received her bachelor’s degree in 1996, Giada knew that something was missing from her life.
While she was studying social anthropology, Giada couldn’t take her mind off of food and cooking and knew that she had to do something about it. To ease her cravings, Giada applied to study at the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in Paris.
She "Impressed" The Network
Her aim was to eventually become a pastry chef, and she used the opportunity to study under some of the greatest chefs of all time and learn the skills necessary to become a professional chef in the culinary world.
While working on an article for the popular culinary magazine, Food & Wine Magazine, in 2002, her food and styling caught the attention of a Food Network executive. The executive was impressed by her Italian history and her cooking skills – as the network was looking to find an Italian chef for a new show.
Not a one trick pony
However, the executive was dubious as to whether Giada would be good on camera, so asked her for a demo. Nine months later, she was offered her very own show, and Everyday Italian was born.
Although Giada De Laurentiis is largely known for Everyday Italian, she is not just a one-trick pony. In fact, Giada has put her cooking talents to numerous TV shows over the course of her career, including Behind the Bash, Giada’s Weekend Getaways, Handy Manny, and Pixie Hollow Bake Off. Amazingly, these shows are not just cooking tutorials.
Putting pen to paper
They include travel diaries and even fictional characters. In fact, it’s fair to say that Giada has become a television personality in her own right.
Like many other chefs in the business, Giada De Laurentiis hasn’t just shown her culinary skills on camera. Over the course of her career, Giada has also put pen to paper and provided her fans with various cookbooks.
A Royal Menu
In fact, she has released eight cooking books since 2005, with many of them outlining her Italian heritage and Italian cuisine. Impressively, Giada at Home and Weeknights with Giada have both reached the number one top spot in the New York Times Best Seller List.
Giada De Laurentiis has proven that she can make no-nonsense, hearty, and tasty meals on her cooking show and in her personal restaurant, but that isn’t all she can do. In a one-hour special episode of ‘Giada De Laurentiis,’ the TV chef gave us a behind-the-scenes look at the menu she created for a royal menu.
Maintaining a healthy lifestyle
Indeed, Giada cooked for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during a royal visit to California. The menu featured Frico Cups with shrimp and avocado, as well as chicken and slaw.
It’s no secret that Giada De Laurentiis has a love for delicious Italian cooking, which normally involves a lot of pasta and cheese. This leaves many viewers wondering how she maintains a healthy lifestyle.
The secret to staying slim
Well, it seems this busy TV chef always makes sure that she saves time in her day to practice yoga. She will normally wake up early to start her day with stretching and breathing exercises and will try to fit a long walk along the beach if she has time.
However, it’s not all about the moving and exercising. Giada has revealed that her secret to staying slim is to manage what she eats. Although she cooks delicious homemade meals with yummy ingredients, she rarely eats her own cooking!
Putting Faith in Nonno
She takes a bite of her finished dishes for the sake of the camera but refuses to eat any more after the cameras stop rolling. In fact, she will only eat salads while on the set of her shows. She also carries around dark chocolate to nibble on if she ever gets any sweet cravings.
Although she was used to the pressures of fame and fortune thanks to her parents’ lifestyle, Giada learned even more about the world around her from her maternal grandfather, Dino De Laurentiis. As an esteemed Italian film producer, Dino helped bring Italian cinema to the forefront of Hollywood life and created over 500 movies over the course of his career.
Giada and Jade
With his hefty net worth, Dino bought a restaurant, and Giada De Laurentiis loved nothing more than helping the staff with their food orders and learning more about the food business.
Although her marriage did not end well, it did result in their beloved daughter – Jade Marie De Laurentiis-Thompson. Jade was born in 2008, and so named after her mother.
Knife Collection
In fact, “Jade” in Italian translates to “Giada.” Since her birth, Jade has been the main focus in her life, but she has reported that she would not have any more children. For the most part, Giada wants to focus on continuing her career and providing the best life possible for her and her daughter.
You know you’ve made it big when you get your own brand of knives. Having the proper kitchen tools is essential in any professional and Giada has a full range of knives in her collection including more specialized knives such as a mezzaluna knife. This is a curved knife typically used for cutting herbs or cheese.
Camera Shy
De Laurentiis has the honor of having her name engraved on a line of high-quality kitchen knives that seem to be getting great reviews. They are selling for a pretty penny online and one knife alone was selling for $75 on eBay.
In addition to her own show, Everyday Italian, Giada also appeared on a biography program on the Food Network called Chefography. In her interview, Giada stated that she never wanted to get into her family business, which is show business and that she felt uncomfortable on her show and in front of the camera in general.
Behind the Bash
It didn’t help when she received criticism from viewers of Everyday Italian claim that she was only pretending to cook on the show.
In 2006, Giada began hosting another show called Behind the Bash. The show gave viewers a "behind the scenes" look at what it is like to prepare for big budget events such as the Grammy Awards.
No Eating
Giada traveled everywhere from New York to Las Vegas in order to cover the most over the top and glitzy parties around the country. Unfortunately, this show didn’t last too long but Giada was onto her next project.
There was a rumor going around that Giada spits out the food she makes on TV in between takes. A source alleged, “she never eats.
Tiny Chef
Never…they have a dump bucket that is brought out the second they cut.” Giada’s spokesperson responded by saying that the chef tapes multiple shows in one day and the camera do a lot of close-ups of her eating her creations. But she can’t always eat the delicious meals she makes.
Have you ever seen a celebrity in real life and thought, “wow, they are much shorter than I thought they would be.” This would be the case if you ever met Giada as the chef is only 5ft 1”. This has led her to have the nickname “petite powerhouse” but we don’t know how she feels about this.
A big loss
Through the magic of television, you may not have realized how small she is, however, her height is very evident when she stands next to a tall person.
Giada is very close to her family including her siblings. She has a sister named Eloisa who is a makeup artist and a brother named Ivor. Sadly, her brother Dino passed away in 2003 after a battle with melanoma.
No more kids
At the time of his passing, Dino was gaining fame as a film editor in Hollywood. Giada has spoken out about this an advocated about melanoma and how important it is to treat it as soon as you notice a symptom.
Giada is a devoted and loving mother to her daughter Jade, however, she has stated that one is enough and she won’t be having any more kids. Giada had Jade when she was 37 and she is now in her late forties so it is understandable why she isn’t rushing to have more babies.
Family name
She and her ex-husband made the decision to only have one child early on in their marriage as Giada was focusing on her expanding career.
It is a tradition in the De Laurentiis family to hand down names through generations and Giada kept this tradition with her daughter. Her late brother Dino was named after her grandfather, which inspired her to choose the name Jade for her daughter, which is the English version of Giada.
A personal endeavor
Although the name is a little modified, she is still keeping her family tradition in her own unique way. We guess if she had more kids she would have to come up with another name that sounds like Giada.
Although Giada loves being on screen and bringing her viewers tutorials of her homemade Italian cooking, this wasn’t enough for the talented chef. In 2014, Giada decided to bring her food even closer to her fans and open a restaurant for them to really try a taste of Italy.
Horoscope
De Laurentiis chose to set up shop in Las Vegas, in the impressive The Cromwell restaurant. While overlooking the famous Bellagio Fountains and the notorious Caesars Palace, guests can dine in ‘GIADA’ style.
Even if you don’t believe in horoscopes and astrology, you have to admit the Giada’s sign says a lot about her personality. Leo’s are typically characterized as energetic and driven people that love to be in the spotlight, sound familiar?
Sibling rivalry
Even if Giada didn’t love being in front of the camera at first, she is now in her comfort zone and she is clearly a driven and enthusiastic businesswoman. Leos are also known for being blunt which could be why Giada doesn’t feel shy about fighting back against rumors.
As we mentioned, Giada and her siblings are very close but this doesn’t mean that they didn’t torture each other growing up. Giada is the oldest of her siblings and she used to tease her younger sister as a child.
Doing good
One mean thing she used to do was tell her sister that she had something on her eye, only to pluck her eyelash out! We hope they are getting along better these days.
In addition to all of her projects and business ventures, Giada enjoys giving back. Giada is a celebrity ambassador for a relief organization called Oxfam, which focuses on alleviating poverty around the world.
Skin secrets
She also works with many charities related to medical conditions that are close to her heart such as Stand Up to Cancer and the American Heart Association. Giada also participated in a fundraiser at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto in order to raise money for breast and ovarian cancer research.
Not only does Giada give great cooking advice but she also has great beauty tips too! According to the website Celebrity Toob, Giada uses a unique mixture in order to keep her skin looking flawless. Apparently, she mixes baking soda and olive oil together and applies it to her face.
Giada entertains
A lot of people use cooking ingredients to make face masks or skin treatments but this one seems a little odd. But hey, if it works for her.
Giada’s latest project is her television show titled Giada Entertains. The premise of the show is basically what you would assume from the name. Giada shares her tips on throwing parties and get-togethers by giving ideas about party themes and recipes.
Celebrity friends
In one episode, we see Giada plan a slumber party for her daughter Jade which gives her fans a glimpse of her home life. She’s also planned a pizza and pasta party and a film festival party.
One of the perks of being a famous Hollywood chef is that you get to have celebrity friends. This past holiday season, Giada and Gwen Stefani combined forces with Williams Sonoma to do a live apple pie baking session.
Taking inspiration
It was partially organized to promote Stefani’s Christmas album, however, it looked like the two were having a great time and that they got along well. Giada also has a number of photos with television host Steve Harvey on her Instagram and it seems like the two are great friends.
Even though Giada has her own cookbooks and shows, she isn’t above taking recipe advice from other chefs. This past Halloween Giada took a recipe from Martha Stewart and made these monster brownies complete with broken Oreos with candy eyes that looked like scary monsters.
Not everyone is a fan
Not only do these brownies look delicious but we think it’s so sweet of Giada to have shouted out her colleague for a great recipe.
Over the course of her career, Giada De Laurentiis has built up a huge fan following. However, it seems not everyone is a fan. In May 2017, Giada appeared on the hugely popular The Ellen DeGeneres Show, alongside Nicole Kidman.
Giada at Target
Ellen used the opportunity to cook with the two women, but their culinary segment tasted a little acidic. After making digs at Nicole Kidman and her cooking skills, the actress decided to fight back and spit out Giada’s cooking – while criticizing it in front of the whole crowd.
Like many other chefs on the Food Network, Giada De Laurentiis has been approached by major brands and corporations throughout her career and been asked to team up with them during their advertising campaigns. Although she has turned many of them down, she could not turn down an offer that came to her in 2010.
Animal Lover
During this time, Target asked to collaborate with the TV chef to bring their customers a new line of kitchen supplies in her name, which can still be bought today.
Giada has two other furry family members named Bruno and Bella who are her dog and cat. Giada loves her pets so much that she even created an Instagram page for them where she calls them, “The cutest and smallest De Laurentiis’.” Giada involves her pets in almost every aspect of her life and she even dressed Bruno up like a cardinal on Halloween!
What’s next for Giada?
These four-legged friends must get some really good food!
We’ve already seen what Giada has brought to popular culture, but what’s next for her? Well, the television chef is still planning on keeping her face on the screen and bringing even more recipes and cooking tips to her fans. However, there is one plan at the top of her list.
Early years
Next on Giada De Laurentiis’s to-do list is to open a brand new restaurant. The new restaurant will be called Pronto and will be based in the prestigious Caesar’s Palace Hotel in Las Vegas.
So who is Giada De Laurentiis? Well, to truly understand this TV chef and her life, we need to start from the beginning – and Giada’s story started across the pond in Rome, Italy. Born on August 22, 1970, Giada was the first daughter of the popular Italian actress, Veronica De Laurentiis, and Alex De Benedetti, who was also an actor and producer.
The Mysterious "Dump Bucket"
From an early age, Giada found herself in the kitchen, surrounded by Italian cooking and family recipes. However, her obsession with food was just beginning…
With all of the food that she cooks on her show, we've often wondered how Giada De Laurentiis stays so petite. The answer's simple: she never actually eats any of the food that she cooks.
She basically eats nothing all day
According to a Page Six article from 2014, an unnamed source revealed that Giada chews the food for the cameras, then spits it out into a "dump bucket." A representative for De Laurentiis has denied this, but it could simply prove the old adage: never trust a skinny chef.
With her specialty being Italian food, De Laurentiis frequently made mouthwatering, but carb-filled, cheese-covered pasta dishes on her shows Everyday Italian, Giada at Home, and Giada in Italy. And yet, she somehow maintains her trim figure.
Affairs?
We already covered the questionable claim that she uses a "dump bucket," but there's an even simpler explanation for how she keeps the pounds off: She doesn't eat that stuff — or anything, for that matter.
Though no concrete evidence has ever surfaced, De Laurentiis has been the subject of more affair rumors than probably any other celebrity chef. Her touchy-feely camaraderie with Today host, Matt Lauer, has led to rampant speculation that the two have been carrying on an affair for years. The same goes for Bobby Flay, De Laurentiis' kitchen contemporary and frequent collaborator. Their affection for each other became so obvious, WWHL host Andy Cohen even asked De Laurentiis about it during an appearance on his show.
She's been dating Shane Farley for longer than she's said
"We're very good friends. We've worked for many years together, uh, but I don't think that's ever going to happen. Because I'm smarter than that," De Laurentiis responded.
Soon after finalizing her divorce from fashion designer Todd Thompson in September 2015, De Laurentiis started stepping out with a new guy, TV producer Shane Farley. However, rumors and allegations surfaced that the two had actually started dating while Giada was still married to Thompson. And those rumors didn't come out of thin air.
Is she cheating on Shane Farley already?
Farley's been in the biz for a long time, having worked on shows like Rachel Ray and Big Morning Buzz. A quick look at both Farley's and De Laurentiis' IMDb pages shows that De Laurentiis made appearances on both of those shows while Farley would have been producing them, so they presumably knew each other as early as 2011.
Since De Laurentiis has unfortunately gained the reputation of not exactly being a one-man woman, the rumors are already flying that she's going behind Farley's back, too. De Laurentiis was seen having dinner at "a swanky private club in NYC" with model/actor Kevin Navayne.
She wishes she could tell her fans not to touch her
They supposedly shared "the smallest table near the bar," and were "speaking very closely together, and whispering in each other's ears," according to an eyewitness. Nothing else ever came of the random gossip tidbit, and as of this writing, De Laurentiis and Farley are still going strong.
We kind of feel for her on this one, but De Laurentiis didn't do herself any favors in the way she phrased it when she expressed her discomfort with fans who have boundary issues. Speaking with The New York Daily News about being more readily accessible to fans who dine at her Las Vegas restaurant, she said, "It's the only place that people expect to see me and sort of be able to touch my brand.
I wish I could say no touchy-touchy, but it doesn't work that way."