Rachael Ray Honors Her Mother in a Heartfelt Mother’s Day Post

The celebrity chef honored her mother’s teachings on Mother’s Day, acknowledging their impact on her life. A few years ago, she revealed that they lived across the street from each other.

On Sunday, May 11, Rachael Ray shared a video on her social media, recalling her life as a young woman living in New York City.

"When I lived in New York as a very young woman, I was very, very poor," she began. "And I didn’t want to bother my mother. I didn’t want her to feel scared for me, so I would never ask for money."

Ray continued, saying she eventually began doing a show called "$40 Dollars a Day," which fans remembered fondly. "And that was my budget for a whole week," she shared. "I would buy a week’s food, and I only had $40."

"I was always so grateful that I came from people who taught me how to buy dry beans, a few vegetables, very little protein, and to live on that for a long time," she continued.

Ray said she was "deeply grateful" for those lessons. "It’s made my life what it is," she said. Alongside the video, she dedicated the caption to her mother, Elsa.

"My mom taught me a lot more than how to cook. She showed me how to make something outta nothing—and how to do it with love 💛🍲," she wrote.

In 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Ray revealed her mother lived across the street from her. "She's 85, and she and the dog visit on our back porch in our backyard here and we all go out there and share some time together — at safe distances, of course," she said.

The TV star also shared that she and her husband, John Cusimano, sent her mother all her meals and spoke many times a day.