Photographed for FHM by www.cahanphotography.com
Posted on 03/02/2009 3:19:55 PM PST by AreaMan
Rachael Ray Doesn't Regret Racy Photo Shoot
Monday March 2, 2009
Rachael Ray's mother was furious when she stripped down for a racy 2003 FHM photo shoot, but the 40-year-old talk show host has no regrets.
"I think I was 35 at the time," she tells ABC's Nightline in an interview airing Monday. "And I thought about it for a while, and I said, 'You know what? This magazine has as young as 17-, 18-year-olds in hottie bikinis, and these are all actresses, models, pin-up girls. I don't belong to any even remote club of theirs.'"
Can you believe these celebs are in their 40s?
"And I thought, 'If I'm gutsy enough to do this, this is a good thing for everybody. This is the everywoman, here she is,'" she adds. "And I did it, and it was the most scared I've ever been, and I wouldn't change a thing. I'd do it again tomorrow."
See photos of celebs who have posed topless
Ray also raised some eyebrows for her endorsement deal with Dunkin' Donuts.
Chef Anthony Bourdain famously said the TV spots were "evil" and "like peddling crack to kids."
"I absolutely love Tony Bourdain," Ray says. "I have an enormous amount of respect for him. It's a free country."
She admits the endorsement "wasn't the greatest thing for my PR," but says she respects the company's attempt to make donuts healthier by removing trans fats.
"They came to me and they said, 'We want to make healthier food for America. You drink a lot of coffee. You grew up on Dunkin' Donuts. Have a cup of Dunkin' Donuts on us,'" she says. "They gave their support and their money to [Ray's children's charity] Yum-o. They've been very supportive of me. I don't regret a thing. Not for a minute."
See photos of celebs pigging out
"I'm an all-things-in-moderation kind of person," she continues. "I do eat a warm donut occasionally. I especially enjoy a cider donut when I'm apple picking. I don't think there's anything wrong with that."
Ray says she doesn't mind public criticism.
"If you spend so much time thinking about the people who dislike what it is you're doing, you're doing a disservice to the people that employ you," she says. "I'm not employed by those people. I work for the people that want the type of food I write [about], the type of food we share with people."
Ray also says anyone could have done what she's done.
"I absolutely 100 percent believe that," she says. "I'm a waitress from upstate New York. Anyone that likes chatting, that likes to cook, certainly. Could have happened to anybody."
See today's top celeb news photos
Ray reportedly earns up to $18 million a year and says "it makes me a little sick."
"It makes my stomach flip. I'm not comfortable with it ... because I don't like to think of my life as that far away from me," she says. "People that make that kind of money -- it's just too foreign of an idea."
Says Ray, "I'm not a chef. I haven't created any new technique in the kitchen. I'm not a rocket scientist. I think I'm good at writing accessible, fun, and affordable meals for the average American family. That's what I think I'm good at."
Alton Brown is just plain annoying.
the Travel Channel also has the treasure show. The woman on that is pretty hot. Especially digging in West Texas for opal.
I like Alton Brown on that show and his own.
Actually used his tip of soaking a turkey in brine. Turned out GREAT.
I agree Giada can be annoying, but I said she was easy on the eyes. I do though get annoyed that she has to CONSTANTLY use her twins to sell everything she does. I am a guy, and can't complain too much about the view. But I hate the fact that that is exactly what they are doing. Using her boobs to sell the show. Hooters tv.
Yea I guess it’s a “guy” thing, but as far as cooking and teaching....no way!!! I know...MEOW.
I’m half Portuguese. We never listen. Send Rach to my place.
Giada violates the precept, Never trust a skinny Italian [woman] cook. Same rule applies to grandmothers [does the phrase Nancy Pelosi ring a bell].
Maybe its the fact she actually gets her hands dirty.
She seems like the type you could take camping, and she wouldn't complain about smelling like smoke, or who's idea of camping isn't checking into the nearest Marriot.
Good one!!!
Exactly she seems to enjoy the job. Not just doing it for the bucks.
She’s a hottie, no doubt.
Considering at 40 something she put alot, and I mean alot of twenty year olds to shame.
I spent time in that neck of the woods, the Albany-Schenectady-Troy area in the 70’s, and there are some serious heartbreaks there.
Trouble with them Italian gals is getting them to shut up...
That girl is having fun!!
I can’t watch Ina’s show. I think it’s all the close ups on everything and the hyperbolic microphone they use whenever she’s chopping or whisking or folding (folding is the worst “SLOP, SLOP, SLOP”).
And just in general, why do they have to show each and every detail. If the recipe calls for eight eggs, I don’t need to see you crack each and every egg. Crack one into a bowl with seven other eggs—I’ll take your word for it.
Hmmm, old Nancy looked like she’d gained some weight from her tax-payer paid Italian trip. Maybe her Jack-In-The-Box jumps worked some weight off her during the O’s joint session speech I kept watching, hoping she’d slip and fall. Her green outfit did nothing for her and reminded me of Gumby, lol! (Yes, hubbie and I actually watched most of it, yelling at the tv the whole time. We should’ve gone out that night.)
Thats whats really attractive about her.
That's known as Food Porn and it is a regrettable development.
I like the shows that just demonstrate and teach and you something besides just pretty pictures of the food.
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