Rachael Ray Thought Her Husband John Cusimano Was Gay When They Met

When they first met, Rachael Ray think now-husband John Cusimano was gay.

In Us Weekly‘ exclusive clip from Tuesday night’s episode, January 7, Tommy DiDario“I’ve Never Said This Before” podcast Ray, 56, recalled a miscommunication before she started dating Cusimano, 57, in 2001.

“The first time I saw my husband, I thought he was gay and I tried to set him up on a date with a male friend of mine,” she revealed. “And he said, ‘But I’m not gay.'”

Ray was excited to find out Cusimano was availableadding, “Then I was like, ‘Please check’ and I couldn’t wait to get it in the sack. It was (a memorable night) and he is a very wonderful man.”

On the podcast, the TV personality couldn’t stop smiling while discusses her sex life with Cusimano.

“I had to buy two different sized suits for our wedding from Prada because his jacket was one size and his trousers another,” she quipped. “I certainly am – I’m a very lucky woman.”

Ray and Cusimano dated for several years before exchanging vows. “We balance each other, we always have,” she told People in 2022. “We knew we’d get through this together.”

The couple has face challenges in their marriage – especially in the midst of the COVID pandemic.

“John and I have always worked together, but in separate buildings. John focuses on the business transactions and all the different aspects of our brand while I’m in the studio doing TV shows all day,” Ray told Us Weekly exclusively in August 2020. “But now we’re doing everything together which is of course a huge adjustment.”

Their quarantine arrangement helped Ray and Cusimano learn about each other. “I think we now have a better understanding of the role that each of us has played, behind the scenes,” he continued. “I don’t usually 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.”

More recently, Ray opened for the secret to a successful one relationship. “I’m very wild, wild, wild lucky that I have my husband,” she said on her podcast “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead” in October 2024. “But he understands that I need my place It needs its place. John and I pretty much stay in separate corners.”

Ray also admitted that she and Cusimano had get into “huge screaming games” in the past.

“It’s very difficult, especially for people who feel hot or creative or noisy, to be able to calm things down,” she revealed. “John, I never calm him down. We have huge screaming matches all the time, but I think that’s healthy. I really do. And I don’t trust people who are too quiet.”

Over the years, Ray found that being too quiet “freaks” her out, adding, “Let’s get it all out there. In the end, I pat him on his ass, or he kisses me on the head, and that’s the kind of thing. That’s the apology. It’s easy to understand.”

Speaking with DiDario on Tuesday’s episode of his podcast, Ray he shared what he learned for living in the public eye.

“I’ve never wanted to be someone else — never. I have never said to myself, ‘I wish I was that person.’ And I have never allowed someone to cut me in public,” he noted. “I won’t get it. If people try to take you down, it’s not going to get you anywhere. You can go home and cry or tell your husband, your boyfriend or your dog how much it bothered you. But I don’t do anything like that in public.”