Rachael Ray is taking fans into the aftermath of her devastating house fire. The celebrity chef’s Lake Luzerne, New York, home caught fire on Aug. 9.
Ray, her husband, John Cusimano, and their dog, Bella, were not harmed in the fire, but it did destroy precious items and memories. The television personality will take fans inside the damage on the upcoming season premiere of The Rachael Ray Show on Monday.
On Sunday, Ray shared a snippet of what she and her husband had lost. “This was our bedroom, and our library. And that was our bathroom and our dressing area,” she said in a clip posted to Instagram. The home’s bones are barely standing in some parts.
Another Instagram post shared on Saturday shows a photo of the damage, alongside a statement from Ray. “On Aug. 9th, my house burned. 15 years of memories; 40 years of notebooks, drawing, thoughts, my life’s work,” she said. “In the years that I lived here, I learned an awful lot. In the few weeks since it burned, I think I’ve learned even more. Today, we’re going to share what’s left of our home.”
Prior to the fire, Ray was using her upstate New York home to film cooking videos amid the coronavirus pandemic. Ray’s rep told 360APROKO last month that the chef and her husband were home when the blaze began, but they’re not sure what exactly caused it just yet. On Aug. 11, Ray took to Twitter to graciously thank the firefighters for their efforts in saving her home.
“Thank you to our local first responders for being kind and gracious and saving what they could of our home,” she tweeted. “Grateful that my mom, my husband, my dog… we’re all okay. These are the days we all have to be grateful for. What we have, not what we’ve lost.”
“I did lose my phone (posting through a team member),” she added. “Thank you for all the well wishes, concern and outreach, but can’t return texts and calls at the moment…!
