Giada De Laurentiis Reveals Why She Had A Tense Holiday Season

Giada De Laurentiis has had a busy year, and there was no sign of anything slowing her down until an unexpected holiday incident. The Food Network star is currently promoting her new cooking show, "Simply Giada," which premieres Sunday, January 9, per People. She appeared on Today to cook up chicken Milanese while sharing more about the series, explaining that it goes hand-and-hand with "Eat Better, Feel Better," the latest in Giada's cookbook collection.

Her 13-year-old daughter, Jade De Laurentiis, will be a guest on the show, which makes perfect sense as she is a seasoned veteran for television, making appearances alongside her mom for years. The two are as close as best friends, regularly cooking together, sharing recipes on TikTok, and making dancing videos for the app as well, according to Daily Mail. 

In a 2013 interview with Parade, Giada spoke about her experience as a mother. "I thought maybe she wouldn't want to cook like me because she'd want to do her own thing, but she's so into what I do and wants to be by my side every day." This cooking enthusiasm and joy of spending time together naturally thrive during the holiday season, but there was a little hiccup this year that caused a change in atmosphere.

Before they could ring in the New Year, Giada De Laurentiis took to Instagram and posted a very different look from her usual time with her daughter. She shared a photo on her IG Story, per People, of them both sitting on a couch, as far as they could be from one another, masked up and bundled in comfy attire. The socially distanced pose was a big contrast from Giada's previous posts of holiday cheer, and the Instagram story was posted with text that read, "Holiday break w/ Jade & Covid ... waiting for the test results," completed with a hopeful fingers-crossed emoji.

It has now been confirmed that Jade De Laurentiis contracted Covid-19 over the Christmas holiday. Her mother explained to Today that at the time when the photo was taken, "Jade had COVID and I was trying to avoid COVID." She was in good spirits about the encounter, ensuring, "All is okay now ... We're all set. We're all better now."

Leading up to the holidays, Giada's Instagram showed the two in close, comfortable proximity, decorating the Christmas tree and making a popcorn, candy cane, dark chocolate, and sprinkle concoction, per Yahoo! News, they call "Christmas popcorn." It is lovely to see that the De Laurentiis mother-and-daughter duo were able to spend fun, quality time throughout the season, and that the teen has fully recovered.