2024-09-05 04:55:02
Rachael Ray fans say they’re “seriously concerned” after the TV chef appeared to slur her words in a new cooking video.
Ray, an Upstate New York native, paid tribute to the late Tony Bennett on Monday with a new video demonstrating how she makes his favorite dish, ossobuco. Ray recalled going “overboard” cleaning her home before the singer came over for dinner with his wife, Susan Crow.
“I had polished the floors in the kitchen because, well, Tony Bennett’s coming to dinner,” Ray said. “I have to make sure the floors are perfect and the house is clean and everything is just amazing.”
The floors were apparently slippery, Ray said, as Bennett’s chair slid out from under him and he hit his head on her marble counter.
“I thought I killed him, literally,” Ray said.
Bennett turned out to be fine and even enjoyed double portions of the meal, Ray said. She did not specify when the dinner incident occurred; Bennett died in 2023 at age 96 after a lengthy battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
But the video left fans wondering about Ray’s health.
“I love you but are you ok? I’m seriously concerned,” one Instagram user commented.
“Is she slurring or am I slurring,” another wrote. “I hope someone is just as concerned as I am?”
“One corner of her mouth is much lower than the other. The nurse in me would have her go into be checked for any side effect from a Stroke or Bells Paly,” a third said.
Some fans came to Ray’s defense.
“She’s aging like the rest of us. Maybe she has a medical condition, maybe she is on medication. Regardless, no need to be mean,” a supporter wrote.
Others shot down claims drinking could be an issue and suggested her speech was affected because of her feelings about Bennett. “She got emotional talking about her friend is all,” a fan said.
According to the New York Post, Ray has not made any health issues public. She had a minor surgery in 2008 to remove a benign cyst on her vocal cord; a rep said it would not affect her daytime show or Food Network tapings at the time.
Ray, 56, is a Glens Falls, N.Y., native best known for hosting the syndicated “Rachael” show from 2006 to 2023. The Emmy-winning celebrity cook still lives part-time in the Adirondacks, rebuilding her Lake Luzerne house in Warren County after it was destroyed by a fire in 2020.
She launched her own production studio last year called Free Food Studios, focusing on her own “in the kitchen” content including instructional cooking videos, and currently hosts “Rachael Ray in Tuscany” for the FYI Network. She’s also written cookbooks, published the magazine “Every Day with Rachael Ray,” and hosted television shows like “30 Minute Meals,” “Rachael Ray’s Tasty Travels” and “Rachael Ray’s Kids Cook-Off.”
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