Rachael Ray Says She Was ‘Bashed for Decades’ for Not Having Kids With Husband John Cusimano

Rachael Ray got candid about the criticism she received about not starting a family of her own with her husband, John Cusimano. During an episode of her “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead” podcast on Tuesday, November 12, she chatted with Bob Harper about her decision not to have kids.

Bob, 59, said, “I chose to never have children. God love all the people that have kids,” to which Rachael, 56, replied, “Me too! And boy, did I get bashed for it over the decades.”

The fitness trainer said that growing up, “it was very uncommon for queer people to have kids.” Bob said that he has “put all that kind of unconditional love into my dogs.”

“What my dogs teach me on a daily basis is that unconditional love,” the Biggest Loser trainer said.

Rachael’s experience is similar in that she absolutely loves her dogs and considers them to be her family. The cookbook author said that dogs “never talk back” and “always want to hug you.”

“For me, if I have the absolute worst day, or I’m sick as a dog — as the expression goes — the thing that makes me feel best is to go home and literally climb into bed under a blanket with my dog,” she explained.

The TV personality said that having a pet “just makes you happier and better and you have all this love in your life all the time, no matter what.”

“I might even judge people a little bit if they don’t have dogs in their home,” Bob playfully said.

In a previous episode of the podcast, Rachael gushed over her life with John and their lasting marriage, which has been going strong since 2005.

“You know, [John is] a lawyer and a musician,” she shared. “I’m not a musician. I’m certainly no lawyer. I hate reading legal documents and official stuff, but we balance each other in a weird way. We allow each other to be open to different worlds.”

John is Rachael’s biggest cheerleader and has been an integral part of building her culinary empire over the years.

“I love my husband, John, and John works with me and has built our business and our brand together, but we agreed in concept about service to community, service to the world, service to animals, to children,” she shared.

“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 and building not a business, but a community,” Rachael continued.

In the past, Rachael spoke about her decision not to have children after getting married, citing her bustling career as the reason why.

“I don’t have time,” Rachael told People in May 2007. “I work too much to be an appropriate parent. I feel like a bad mom to my dog [Isaboo, a pit bull] 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.”