Whatever Happened to Sandra Lee From Food Network?

She overcame health obstacles.

Just before the final season of her Food Network program went to air in 2015, Lee was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer known as ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) after a routine mammogram and subsequent biopsy. In an interview with the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) in 2017, she said she received the news while celebrating at dinner after a photo shoot for People magazine’s “Most Beautiful People” issue. Lee subsequently decided to undergo a double mastectomy as part of her treatment.

“When your body has that kind of surgery, it’s massive,” Lee told BCRF, noting she developed a severe post-surgical infection. “I had a lot of setbacks. Right now I’m working to get my immune system stabilized and back to normal.”

Lee also says she chose to be as open as possible about her diagnosis to help raise public awareness. “It’s unbelievable how many people this disease touches,” Lee told BCRF. “It doesn’t discriminate. It goes after all of us.”

She underwent another major surgery.

In 2022, Lee announced to her Instagram followers on social that she was undergoing major surgery once again with a complete hysterectomy.

“Soooooo this is happening! Several years ago I was supposed to have quite an intense surgery. It was a follow up to my breast cancer surgery, but I had repeatedly put it off and then COVID hit,” she wrote in the caption for the post. “Fast forward to now, during a routine appointment with my gynecologist, she noticed a change in some of my cells. I went for a second and third opinion and they all confirmed the same.”

Lee said these appointments helped her recall a conversation with a friend years previously about weighing a complete hysterectomy. However, she initially brushed off the idea because of how many complications she experienced with her breast cancer surgery.

“Over the last few years I have watched and admired the grace of other women who went public with their own health decision while I sat on the sidelines in awe and with a bit of fear,” she explained. “Brave women, like my friend’s mother who sadly had lost her battle with breast cancer after it had spread to her ovaries. I admit, I am a little embarrassed that I hadn’t had the courage to get this final stage done until now. So while you’re reading this post I am undergoing hysterectomy surgery. A surgery that so many brave women before me have had to do. It’ll be an everything-out procedure, and after that, there won’t be any more halo of worry hanging over my head.”

Fortunately, Lee’s second operation was also a success. In an Instagram post, she told fans: "Surgeries are so brutal, but I'm still glad I did it. Once they got the IV in, wonderful anti-nausea meds I felt much better.”

She ended her high-profile relationship.

Just years after launching her Food Network show, Lee also experienced a major development in her personal life when she met politician Andrew Cuomo, who later served as governor of New York from 2011 to 2021. The two remained a couple for more than a decade amid swirling speculation about whether they would ever officially tie the knot—an idea that Lee regularly pushed back against.

"I like being independent,” she told Harper’s Bazaar in a 2011 interview. “I don't think that marriage means you're not independent, but right now I'm very comfortable, and I'm probably the happiest I've ever been. I feel solid. I feel safe."

But after more than a decade of stepping in as the First Lady of New York, Lee decided to call it quits with Cuomo. Ever since, she has chosen to stay quiet about the intimate details of the breakup, only going so far as to say she knew when it was the right time to walk away.

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She found love again and got engaged.

Despite how difficult the high-profile breakup was for her, it wasn’t too long before Lee found love again. In 2021, she began dating actor Ben Youcef before the two decided to get engaged later that year. Still, Lee said she took her time in the whirlwind romance, waiting two months before even deciding to kiss him, per the New York Post.

“He waited and persisted, and here we are,” Lee told the outlet. “My chemistry with Ben is something that I’ve never had before. It’s mental, it’s emotional, and it’s a connection that I can’t even describe.”

She's launching a new show.

Lee has plenty to celebrate in her professional life in addition to her personal successes. The talented chef recently returned to television with Dinner Budget Show, a cooking competition program that can be streamed on the Roku channel.

"This is Semi-Homemade meets Money Saving Meals, which were my two huge shows, with a hybrid of competition," Lee told The Hollywood Reporter. "I based what I want to do around my growing-up television icon, which was Samantha Stevens in Bewitched. I’m like, 'How would Samantha get this on the table?' Four dishes, a cocktail, a tablescape, two wardrobe changes, and you change the kitchen in 30 minutes. I really just want to do something that I can be happy with that I know it has great service, and not something that is just the next competition iteration."

In her recent interview with US Weekly, Lee said the latest developments have come as a relief—and using them as another reason to look forward.

“I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I will never get over the heartbreak of loss of the last ten years,” she said in light of her cancer diagnosis and breakup with Cuomo. “The grief has been endless but I will use it to fuel and feed me and make me wiser and stronger.”

“You’re either at the beginning, the middle, or the end of hurt and pain: It’s life. It’s a cycle,” she added. “And then you get these amazing runs of happiness that make it all worth it. My life was a nightmare that slowly turned into a dream.”