Rachael Ray Says She Was 'Bashed' for Choosing Not to Have Kids

Rachael Ray

Rachael Ray is a proud mother to her fur babies.

Ray, 56, and celebrity trainer Bob Harper opened up about their respective decisions to not have kids on the Tuesday, November 12, episode of her “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead” podcast. “I choose never to have children. God love all the people that have kids,” Harper, 59, stated, to which Ray replied, “Me too! And boy, did I get bashed for it over the decades.”

Harper recalled growing up during a time when “it was very uncommon for queer people to have kids.” Instead, he chooses to “put all that kind of unconditional love into my dogs.” He added: “What my dogs teach me on a daily basis is that unconditional love.”

Ray agreed with her guest’s comments, joking that pets “never talk back” and “always want to hug you.” She continued: “I’ve seen you with your dogs. I’ve known you [for] a long time. And it’s just such a beautiful circle of love, to see you with them. … It just brings you a ray of light.”

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Ray noted that pets have helped her work through “dark days,” stating, “For me, if I have the absolute worst day or I’m sick as a dog … the thing that makes me feel best is to go home and literally climb into bed under a blanket with my dog.”

Ray shares her adorable pup Bella Boo Blue with her husband, John Cusimano, whom she wed in 2005. She adopted Bella in June 2020, one month after the death of her beloved dog Isaboo. “Our beloved Isaboo passed today in her backyard in the sun in the Adirondack Mountains in New York. In our arms. Peacefully,” Ray announced in a May 2020 Instagram post while also encouraging fans to take in animals of their own.

Rachael Ray with her dog Bella Boo Blue.

“We’ll miss her sense of humor. Her Wile E. Coyote-ness. Her energy and her game-on attitude. She was a fighter. … Our life will be a little less sweet without our Isaboo,” she wrote at the time.

During Tuesday’s podcast, Ray said she doesn’t “understand” why people wouldn’t want to incorporate a pet into their lives. “It just makes you happier and better and you have all this love in your life all the time, no matter what,” she stated.

Harper then joked, “I might even judge people a little bit if they don’t have dogs in their home.”

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Over the years, Ray has spoken out about why she chose not to have kids, often citing her busy schedule as playing a big role in her decision.

“I don’t have time,” she told People in May 2007. “I work too much to be an appropriate parent. I feel like a bad mom to my dog some days because I’m just not here enough. I just feel like I would do a bad job if I took the time to literally give birth to a kid right now and try and juggle everything I’m doing.”

John Cusimano and Rachael Ray with their dog Bella Boo Blue.

Ray recently shared insight into her and Cusimano’s marriage during the November 5 episode of her podcast. “My husband and I didn’t get married until very late in life [at] 37 and 38 years old, but 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,” she told listeners. “And building, not a business, but a community.”

She went on to gush: “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.”