The Tragedy Of Rachael Ray's Childhood Is So Sad

This article includes mentions of attempted suicide. 

Rachael Ray may be a household name worth a whopping $100 million today, but the TV personality certainly hasn't always led a charmed life. From a childhood illness that contributed to her unique voice, to her parents' divorce, to the bullying she endured when she first started school, the lifestyle mogul had a lot to contend with in her younger years. 

Though there's no question that Ray's husky voice has become iconic, the truth behind it is tragic to say the least. As it turns out, Ray had croup several times as a child — and while many who had the infection don't have any complications later in life, that wasn't the case for Ray. For those unfamiliar, croup is an upper respiratory infection that irritates both the windpipe and the voice box. Unfortunately, as Ray shared in a 2006 interview with People, her recurrent bouts of croup did a number on her vocal chords, and it wasn't uncommon for her to lose her voice, even as an adult. Ray added that she'd been able to get around it by seeing a voice doctor, whom she credited with helpful vocal chord exercises. 

Sadly, even with the exercises, Ray continued to have issues and in 2008, she underwent surgery to have a cyst removed from her vocal chords. As her publicist told ABC News in 2009, by the time she was done filming for the week, she'd lose her voice almost completely. Granted, it's not clear if her weakened vocal chords had any bearing on that. Even so, that likely didn't help the situation either. 

Alhough Rachael Ray has long gushed over how much she adores her family, some might recall her dad giving a shocking interview in 2005 that hinted at things being turbulent for a time in their household while Ray was very young. He shared that buying and selling three restaurants and moving from Cape Cod to Glens Falls brought on a ton of stress, while adding that marital issues only intensified such stress. One night, he told the outlet, he took the family's handgun into his wife's room while she was sleeping. "She woke with me pointing the gun at my head, asking her: 'Is this what you want me to do?' Elsa was screaming, the children were crying, including Rachael, and I was in a terrible state," he recounted (via Oh No They Didn't!). 

In the wake of the incident, Ray's parents split. Speaking to Cherry Bombe, she didn't go into much detail, though she did acknowledge the tension in a small way. "My family was different ... and had some bumps along the way. Yes, and my parents broke up when I was pretty young," she said. 

Ray hasn't spoken about her dad as much as she has about her mom, but it does seem as though he remained part of her life after the split. As she shared in an interview with People in 2007, he'd gifted her a can of pepper spray when she moved to New York City — a gift that unfortunately came in handy when Ray was mugged while living in Queens. 

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Another sad detail about Rachael Ray's life? The star wasn't exactly popular in school — and, perhaps ironically given what propelled her to success, some of the nastiness she faced stemmed from the food she brought for lunch on her first day. 

Fans of Ray might remember that she shared in her book "50" that she'd taken a sardine sandwich to school on her first day, and ended up being picked on because of it. It's something she's addressed several more times, writing in one Instagram post that her beloved grandpa had made the sandwich for her. "I still vividly remember the other kids had peanut butter and jelly or ham, cheese, and mayo sandwiches on white bread. Nothing like mine. And I quickly learned that sardines do not make friends ... at least in American kindergartens they don't," she recounted. 

Adding insult to injury, Ray also went to school wearing a dress, which made her stand out from the other kids who were all in dungarees and jeans. "I came home that day being the stinky girl in the funny clothes with the funny shoes. And I said I'm never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever going back to school," she told NPR. Luckily, Ray's grandpa wasn't especially bothered by it. Au contraire, she's shared a number of times that he'd playfully told her to get over herself. "He banged on my head. 'What do you have in here?' 'My brain.' 'What are these?' 'My fingers, my toes.' He made me count them. 'You have 10 fingers, 10 toes, and a brain. Stop crying. When you come home, you can read. You eat what you want at lunch. If you want to wear jeans tomorrow, fine. Just stop,'" Ray recounted him saying to Cherry Bombe. 

Aside from the sardine sandwich situation, Rachael Ray also had countless other formative moments with her grandpa over the years. In fact, speaking to Cherry Bombe, she shared that he'd played a massive role in her success. "He taught me, along with my mom, all of the things that I live by, and run every business by, and my entire life by, to this day," she said. Heartbreakingly, though, he passed away when she was young. 

Other than his pearls of wisdom regarding running a business and living her life, Ray has also hinted that her career of choice was inspired by her love for her late grandpa. As she said in the introduction to one of her recipes — well, her grandpa's artichoke recipe, more specifically — on the Rachael Ray website, "When I was a little girl my grandpa, Emmanuele, lived with us, he was truly my best friend, and I remember him through food. So when I cook food that he taught me how to cook, I am with him again."

Ray has also spoken about her grandfather's cooking on her TV show. As some will remember, she even became emotional in an episode of the "Rachael Ray Show" when speaking about her favorite recipes of his. "We make them every year at Christmas so we feel like we're with him," she shared. Ray then added, a little tearfully, that when she gets to heaven, she plans on having a meal with her grandpa: "And we would eat sardines and anchovies." Ray might have had some tragedies to contend with as a kid, but it's clear she was also surrounded by a lot of love, and that's the greatest blessing of all.