For their five-day wedding fete at a "tiny castle" in Montalcino, Italy, Ray and Cusimano flew in 130 friends and relatives. Photo by: MARK DANIELS FOR EVERY DAY WITH RACHAEL RAY MAGAZINE / WIREIMAGE
Rachael Ray: All The Dish!| Rachael Ray
If that sounds surprisingly blunt, well, Ray doesn't know any other way. "She is certainly outspoken," says her mom, Elsa, 72, who managed nine restaurants all at once after splitting from husband James when Rachael was 12. "I used to have these cards that said, 'Please excuse,' and then there was a line and you'd write 'Rachael,' " she recalls with a laugh. "Then it said, 'I'm sorry she did [fill in the blank],' and there was a list of things I would check off. We had them for years."

In recent months Ray has largely remained quiet in the face of tabloid stories about everything from trouble in her marriage to tensions with Winfrey to plastic surgery rumors – all of which she now shrugs off with her signature plain-spoken humor. Of reports that she'd had a brow lift, she says, "Please! If I had a week off I can assure you I wouldn't be under the knife, at least not for my brow – I'd get rid of my ass first. Not my brow." As for an ex-boyfriend's claims that she can't have kids, "Wait – I'm barren?" she says. "Boy, I wasted a lot of money on birth control over the years. Whatever."

But the Winfrey story – which claimed that Ray had mocked a portrait of the talk show queen that hangs in her production offices – prompted Ray to act. "If people want to slam me, just slam me. I felt bad for Oprah because it attaches my name to [hers]. I wrote Oprah a note and said I would never presume to redress your paintings," says Ray, who calls Winfrey "very supportive."

How about the tabloid claim that Cusimano had cheated with two women during their marriage? "I think they said six actually," she says. "I've known where he is every night since we've been married." According to Cusimano – who moonlights as lead singer in the rock band the Cringe, currently touring to support a new CD – "It's fun to come home after a hard day's work and just cook dinner. The place I'm happiest is curled up in bed with Rachael and the puppy." His wife agrees. "We're very turtlelike," she says. "We listen to music, pour a glass of wine and watch Law & Order."
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