DWTS Insiders Say There's Trouble In Paradise For Giada De Laurentiis & Shane Farley

After years of turning down the opportunity to compete on hit dance competition TV series "Dancing With the Stars," Food Network star and celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis finally said "yes" to Season 35. She's partnered with pro Alan Bersten and fans are eager to see how she does as the competition heats up. As she attempts to dance her way to the top, De Laurentiis will also have her family and friends cheering her on, including her longtime boyfriend, TV producer Shane Farley.

While the couple has been together for more than a decade, new reports hint there might be some tension brewing in the relationship, and it all has to do with "Dancing With the Stars." A source close to the situation told the Daily Mail Farley is a "total control freak," describing him as De Laurentiis' "boyfriend, manager, agent, bodyguard and publicist all rolled into one." He's reportedly attempting to exert control over her time on "Dancing With the Stars." "He behaves like Giada is Taylor Swift with a frying pan. Everything is treated like an enormous event requiring layers of protection and control," said the source. 

Farley has supposedly been acting as if he's an executive producer on the competition series and "thinks he knows television better than everyone else in the room... Everything has to go through Shane," the source added. As of right now, Season 35 of "Dancing with the Stars" has just started, so only time will tell how long De Laurentiis survives — and if her relationship with Farley survives, too. 

It's no surprise Giada De Laurentiis and Shane Farley's love is so wrapped up in her career when the two met through work. The couple first met in 2013, when Farley was hired to help produce a show for De Laurentiis and another Food Network star, Bobby Flay. Farley told People in 2018 about his first impression of his now-girlfriend, saying, "I just thought she was really smart and funny and I thought, 'God, she would be a great host for a show.'" Unfortunately, the show didn't end up moving forward, but this meeting was an important moment in their lives. 

At the time, both De Laurentiis and Farley were married to different people, with the former divorcing ex-husband Todd Thompson in 2015. But De Laurentiis and Farley reconnected and started dating a couple of years later. Since then, everything has seemed like smooth sailing, but according to the new report, Farley's relationship with De Laurentiis might've transformed into something more than romance. After he started dating the TV chef, Farley appeared to slow down his career in TV production. After 2018, he worked on two one-off projects in 2020, and then took a four-year break before his next project. 

Considering his long career as a producer, winning four Emmys for his work over the years, maybe Farley's missing that busy TV life and can't help but think like a producer whenever he's on-set. But no matter the reason for his reported behavior on "Dancing With the Stars," fans can only hope Farley doesn't put a damper on his long-term relationship with De Laurentiis or hinder her chances of winning the Mirrorball Trophy.