How Is Rachael Ray's Health? Here's Why Fans Are Talking About It

For decades now, Rachael Ray has been showing us all how to whip up easy and delicious meals that won't take hours to make. The bubbly cook and television personality first appeared on Food Network in 2001 and became a network mainstay while also landing her own self-titled daytime talk show on CBS that ran from 2006 to 2023. Oh, and on top of that, she launched her own magazine and released several best-selling cookbooks.

In April 2024, Rachael returned to screens with Meals in Minutes on the FYI Network, then launched another series on that same network in July 2024 called Rachael in Tuscany. But as fans saw clips circulating from her FYI shows, they started wondering if Rachael seemed different. Some began to ask whether or not her health was OK.

In certain clips from Rachael's FYI programs, some fans seem to think that she's slurring, and others are pointing out that one corner of her mouth seems to droop. This has led to a lot of speculation on social media about Rachael's health.

"There are medical conditions (stroke, Bell’s palsy, and others) that can cause someone to slur their words. One side of her mouth doesn’t smile the same way as it used to — so she may have a medical condition or nerve damage of some kind. Either way, be kind," one person wrote on Instagram under one of Rachael's videos.

"You guys, her mouth is always slanted like that," someone else countered to all the people who thought the chef's mouth looked different.

But in terms of Rachael's health, the only known issues that the star and/or her team have opened up about in the past were related to her throat and her voice.

In 2006, Rachael told People, "I lose my voice a lot. I had a lot of croup as a kid so I don’t have the strongest vocal cords to begin with. I went to a voice doctor [who] taught me exercises for my throat and to cut back a little on the caffeine."

Then, in 2008, the National Enquirer claimed she had throat cancer, but the celeb chef's publicist went on the record to deny these rumors.

“Rachael is the picture of health," her publicist Charlie Dougiello told People in October 2008. "She is having very minor surgery to remove a benign cyst on her vocal cord. It’s a common in-and-out procedure that she will have in early December and it will not adversely effect any of her daytime show or Food Network tapings.”

A source also told People at the time: "She’s totally fine. It’s just something she needs to take care of. She hasn’t been feeling ill."

The following year, Rachael's publicist told ABC that Rachael hadn't had the surgery at the time she'd originally planned, but rather had opted for vocal therapy. However, she ultimately had the surgery in July 2009.