Rachael Ray Shares the 'Weird Way' She and Husband John Cusimano Balance Each Other Out

Rachael Ray and her husband, John Cusimano, are different — and that’s why they complement each other so well.

On the third episode of her new podcast, I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead, Ray, 56, opened up about their marriage while talking to guest Jacques Pépin about his late wife Gloria. Ray told Pépin, 88, that they “brought something to each other” in the same way that Cusimano does with her.

“You know, [John is] a lawyer and a musician,” Ray said. “I'm not a musician. I'm certainly no lawyer. I hate reading legal documents and official stuff, but we balance each other in a weird way. We allow each other to be open to different worlds.”

“I also think it's fun to be able to get out thoughts truthfully," Ray added.

Ray and Cusimano tied the knot in Italy in 2005. They renewed their vows a decade later in the same Tuscan castle where they first married.

Also on her podcast episode, she credited Cusimano as having been “essential” to her success over the years.

“I love my husband, John, and John works with me and has built our business and our brand together, but we agreed in concept about service to community, service to the world, service to animals, to children," she said.

“It was very important to me that I marry him because I thought this person could be a true partner in what I believe in and helping people and building not a business, but a community,” she continued. 

Pépin shared similar sentiments about his beloved wife, who died in 2020. (They wed in 1966 and welcomed daughter Claudine shortly after.)

“I wouldn't be who I am without Gloria,” said the celebrated French chef. “I mean, she changed my life. She took care of things that I didn't take care of.”

“I actually cannot sign a check or know what we have … in the bank or stuff like this or what those bills are for,” he went on. “I'm totally lost, she took care of that. I never took care of that. So she made it possible for me to do what I did and always supported me whether I was writing a book or whether I was doing classes or whether I was doing a cruise or whether she was always with me.” 

Ray has talked candidly about what makes her own marriage work on previous episodes of her podcast, which she launched in October.

“I am very wildly, wildly, wildly lucky that I have my husband,” Ray said of Cusimano in the second episode, featuring Billy Crudup. “But he understands I need my space. He needs his space.”

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