Just months after Sandra Lee made her first public appearance following her breast cancer surgery at the 2015 Emmys, the TV chef is now bravely opening up about her recent double mastectomy.

“It impacts a couple and a family,” the 49-year-old star—who is the long-time girlfriend of New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo—said of her experience. “No two individuals deal with something the same way or feel it at the same time. That can be a blessing, because you can be there for each other.”

sandra lee and andrew cuomo

Andrew and Sandra in April 2015.

“Andrew was strong when I was at my weak moments,” Sandra added in her new interview with Gotham Magazine. “I like to think I was able to be there for him with a smile or reassurance that I was going to be OK.”

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Following her double mastectomy in May, Sandra endured a second breast cancer surgery in August after being hospitalized for complications related to her first operation. The celebrity chef previously revealed she had been diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ—a common form of noninvasive breast cancer contained within the breasts’ milk ducts—last spring.

We’re glad to see that Sandra is doing well!