Rachael Ray Says She's 'Wildly Lucky' to Have Her Husband John Cusimano: 'He Understands I Need My Space'

The celebrity cook praised her longtime husband during a conversation with Billy Crudup on her new podcast, 'I'll Sleep When I'm Dead'

John Cusimano and Rachael Ray visit Staple Gin booth during the Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival presented by Capital One - Grand Tasting featuring Culinary Demonstrations at Pier 76 on October 15, 2023 in New York City.
John Cusimano and Rachael Ray in 2023. Photo:

John Lamparski/Getty

Rachael Ray and her husband John Cusimano are a perfect match.

On the second episode of her new podcast, I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead, Ray, 56, praised her husband while talking to guest Billy Crudup about his own relationship with wife Naomi Watts.

“I am very wildly, wildly, wildly lucky that I have my husband,” Ray said of Cusimano. “But he understands I need my space. He needs his space.”

Ray and Cusimano, a musician and lawyer, married in Italy in 2005. They renewed their vows 10 years later in the same Tuscan castle where they first said "I do."

John Cusimano and Rachael Ray
John Cusimano and Rachael Ray in 2017. Jim Spellman/WireImage

On her podcast, Ray asked Crudup, 56, “You guys are both wildly successful actors. How do you guys work that out? Do you consider and test material on her when you're learning a part and vice versa, or do you just, like, stay in separate corners?”

“John and I largely stay in separate corners,” added Ray.

The Morning Show star, who started dating Watts in 2017 before marrying in 2023, replied that the unpredictability of creative work is “not for everybody.”

“That lack of predictability and a bit of the carnival life and a little bit of rock and roll can sometimes be exhausting to the point that you're not properly taking care of yourself,” he said. “And the fact is, if you want to be a part of this, you have to surround yourself with enough people who can both promote you, encourage your way of doing it, and help to protect you. And that is a lot to ask.” 

He continued, “And the fact is, Naomi and I have both been around for a while, so we have some level of appreciation about how to help manage one another. And we also are both really interested in acting, so we do talk about stuff.”

Naomi Watts and Billy Crudup attend the Apple TV + Primetime Emmy Party
Naomi Watts and Billy Crudup.

Jon Kopaloff/Getty 

Ray previously shared the unconventional way she resolves arguments with Cusimano.

“It’s very hard, especially for hot-tempered or creative or vociferous loud people to be able to just calm it down,” she told guest Jenny Mollen on the first episode of I'll Sleep When I'm Dead. “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." 

“Too quiet freaks me out," said Ray. "I prefer that you tell me what you think when you think it and let’s just get it all out there.”

I'll Sleep When I'm Dead — a podcast by Rachael Ray
Rachael Ray's new podcast, 'I'll Sleep When I'm Dead'.

Courtesy of Rachael Ray

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Ray told Mollen that they don't "ever apologize to each other."

“Eventually I pat him on his ass or he kisses me on the head, and that’s just sort of it," she joked. "That’s the apology. It’s just sort of understood. ‘I still like your ass.’ ‘I still like your head.’ It’s kind of in that zone.”

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