Giada De Laurentiis' Life Story Is More Tragic Than We Realized

Giada De Laurentiis has been a major star in the world of food TV ever since her first show, "Everyday Italian" premiered on The Food Network in 2003. De Laurentiis, who was born in Italy, comes from a family of working actors, and her grandfather was legendary film producer Dino De Laurentiis. Giada was always passionate about food and studied at the exclusive Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. In addition to her wildly successful Food Network shows, De Laurentiis is the New York Times bestselling author of nine cookbooks and mom to her daughter Jade.

But life was not always so sunny for the celebrity chef. Behind that famous big smile, there has been a lot of strife. From difficulty adjusting to a new culture as a child to being bullied both in school and as an adult on social media, De Laurentiis has had to develop a thick skin. She has also weathered several difficult losses, including the death of a younger brother with whom she was extremely close. Read on to learn more about the tragic life story of Giada De Laurentiis.

Celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis was born in Rome in 1970. When she was 7 years old, De Laurentiis and her family emigrated to the United States, settling in Los Angeles. But early life was no picnic for De Laurentiis, as she had a difficult time adjusting to American culture. What made things especially hard was the fact that De Laurentiis did not speak any English and she struggled to learn the language. "I had a very tough childhood. I came here from Italy in the '70s and didn't speak a word of English," she shared with Redbook.

Her family only spoke Italian at home, which made learning English more challenging. De Laurentiis explained to Business Insider, "My family takes their culture very seriously, so even when we moved to the U.S., we still lived very Italian lives." According to Hudson Mod Mag, De Laurentiis had such a hard time learning English that she was forced to repeat first grade (via Business Insider).

Moving to the U.S. at a young age with no grasp of the English language was tough enough for Giada De Laurentiis, but on top of having to assimilate to a new culture, she also dealt with bullying at school. As she explained to Business Insider, her Italian name was something that alienated her from the rest of the class and was "not seen as cool by my classmates at the time."

Not only was she not seen as cool, but she also put up with some pretty intense bullying due in part to the fact that she had a hard time speaking English. "[T]he kids at school tormented me," she told Redbook. "Truly, it was horrifying the names they called me, and the teachers never really did a thing to stop it."

But De Laurentiis was resilient and eventually found a way to win her classmates over. The trick? Her cooking, of course. De Laurentiis learned to cook when she was a child, and the kids at school were impressed. As she told Redbook, "I'd bring things to class that I'd cooked at home, and my classmates were like, 'Wow. This is amazing, and that girl with the funny name cooked it!'"

After the horrors of grade school faded, Giada De Laurentiis went on to pursue her calling as a chef. She attended the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in Paris, but she soon found it was not all that she'd dreamed it would be. "I hated it for the first two months," she told Time. "I was lonely; I had never been away from my family. It was rough, and school was rough."

To say that the school was rough seems like an understatement given the way De Laurentiis and other students were treated by the instructors at Le Cordon Bleu. "[T]he chefs were so hard on us. For an American girl who's used [to] teachers that are nice to you, they were evil," De Laurentiis shared with Time. "They threw stuff at us ... sauces, knives."

As wild as that sounds, De Laurentiis claims it was par for the course at the time. "It is a different mentality," she explained. "They were treating us the way they were treated coming up, and they were letting us have it. Nobody can prepare you for that. But it's not like that anymore." Despite the initial challenges and the teachers' "evil" behavior, De Laurentiis graduated and kicked off her impressive career.

Giada De Laurentiis grew up with three siblings, Dino, Eloisa, and Igor De Laurentiis. Giada was particularly close with her brother Dino, so she was absolutely devastated when he passed away in 2003 from melanoma at the age of 31.

Giada told Entertainment Tonight that she and Dino shared a passion for the culinary arts and even lived next door to one another. Although Dino was two years younger than Giada, she looked up to him. "Really, we felt like he was my older brother. He was the person I turned to for everything," she said. "When something great happened in my life, when something bad happened — I would talk to him two to three times per day."

Aside from the heartbreak of losing Dino, his death had further repercussions. In fact, Giada had reservations about starting a family because of the loss of her brother. "My brother's passing made me afraid, I think because I was afraid that we could have a child and lose him or her too," she revealed to Redbook (via People).

Giada has dealt with her brother's death by speaking out about the dangers of melanoma and urging people to get regular skin cancer screenings. "My brother was in his 20s," Giada told ET. "The mole was in the center of his back ... he didn't really see it for a long time. Otherwise, we would have caught it and he would still be alive today."

In May 2003, Giada De Laurentiis married Anthropologie designer Todd Thompson. While the marriage seemed like a happy one, with the couple welcoming their daughter Jade in 2008, the tabloids could not get enough of De Laurentiis. She was plagued by rumors that she had cheated on her husband with the likes of singer-songwriter John Mayer, former "Today" host Matt Lauer, and fellow chef Bobby Flay.

In her 2011 interview with Redbook, De Laurentiis vehemently denied that anything had happened between she and Mayer. De Laurentiis claimed she hadn't even seen Mayer in three years and that they'd only had a brief encounter. "Maybe we chatted for five minutes, but I wouldn't consider that intimate," she said. But the rumor was enough to do some damage. As De Laurentiis explained, "I was shocked. And not so much for me, but for my husband and family."

De Laurentiis also denied having an affair with Lauer, with whom she was accused of sharing a "very cozy" dinner and being very flirty during a "Today" segment (via Page Six). And she was adamant that a night out with Bobby Flay was completely innocent as well. As Page Six reported, De Laurentiis stated, "My longtime friendships with my co-workers Matt Lauer and Bobby Flay are exactly that — longtime friendships."

Giada De Laurentiis and Bobby Flay share a very close friendship. The two met in 2004 at a food convention and have appeared together on popular Food Network shows "Iron Chef America" and "Food Network Star." On the "Behind the Plate" podcast (via People), De Laurentiis gushed about her pal Flay, saying, "He's one of those guys you can call in a pinch, and he will get you out of it. He's special in that sense." But the friendship went through a rough patch, and it all stemmed from a TV appearance.

De Laurentiis and Flay teamed up against famed chefs Rachael Ray and Mario Batali for "Iron Chef America" in 2006. De Laurentiis and Flay lost, which De Laurentiis took very seriously. Flay's reaction bothered her. "We lost, and he thought it was funny," De Laurentiis explained. "He didn't think it was any big deal that we lost. I did not talk to him for ... eight months! I did not. Nothing. Silence."

She went on to explain that she'd worked hard preparing her dish and felt as though Flay "half-assed" it. Flay's attitude following the loss angered De Laurentiis further. "He didn't say, 'Hey I'm sorry that we lost,' or 'Hey, you know we'll do it again,'" she said. "He's just like walked away, and I thought, 'You're a jerk.'" Luckily the two patched things up and remain best pals.

In 2010, Giada De Laurentiis suffered another devastating loss when her grandfather, acclaimed film producer Dino De Laurentiis, died at age 91. "My grandfather was a true inspiration," Giada told The Hollywood Reporter. Dino De Laurentiis was legendary in the world of film, having had success both in Italy and in the U.S. He produced over 500 movies, such as (1976's) "King Kong" and "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure," and was nominated for over 35 Academy Awards, garnering his first win in 1956.

While Dino De Laurentiis was likely an inspiration to many, his granddaughter Giada shared a special bond with him, and his death was difficult for her. Despite having lived a long and successful life, the elder De Laurentiis would be sorely missed by Giada. "He was my biggest champion in life and a constant source for wisdom and advice," she shared with The Hollywood Reporter, adding, "I will miss him dearly."

In 2013, there was a lot of drama simmering at The Food Network. It mostly involved TV personality and chef Paula Deen, but Giada De Laurentiis suffered as a result.

Deen came under fire after it was revealed she had been using racial slurs in the workplace. Deen's behavior resulted in a federal discrimination lawsuit, and during a deposition, Deen admitted to having used a racial slur to describe Black people. It was enough to get her fired from The Food Network, with her show "Paula's Home Cooking" ending its 14-year run. The network replaced Deen's slots with De Laurentiis' shows, which Deen's fans did not like.

As De Laurentiis told "Access Hollywood," "Her shows got replaced by my shows, so we have a lot of people not happy with me right now, as if I had anything to do with it" (via the Daily Meal). De Laurentiis' remarks came after Deen's fans took to social media to criticize De Laurentiis for not sticking up for Deen, as the two women had been friends. But De Laurentiis was unwilling to get involved, and she dealt with plenty of internet hate for her choice.

In 2014, Giada De Laurentiis announced that she and her husband, Todd Thompson, had decided to end their marriage. De Laurentiis and Thompson began dating when De Laurentiis was just 19 years old, and the couple's relationship withstood its fair share of challenges.

De Laurentiis rose to fame while married to Thompson, and the marriage was plagued by rumors that De Laurentiis had been unfaithful multiple times. While there was no clear reason for the split, De Laurentiis revealed something in a 2011 interview with Redbook that may give some insight into the couple's marriage woes. "I think it can be hard for any man to sometimes be upstaged by his wife," The Food Network star said.

De Laurentiis took to Facebook to announce her split from Thompson. "Although our decision to separate comes with a great deal of sadness, our focus on the future and overwhelming desire for our family's happiness has given us the strength to move forward on separate, yet always connected paths," the post read in part. The exes now co-parent their daughter, Jade, who at the time of this writing is 16 years old.

In May 2023, Giada De Laurentiis shared an Instagram post which featured her smiling widely while enjoying a pasta dish in Abruzzo, Italy. The innocent post caught the attention of internet trolls who took to the comment section to mock De Laurentiis' appearance. De Laurentiis' famously big smile was the target of the rude comments, with people posting things such as "Dental exam?' and "I had to count my teefs...apparently I'm missing ... 1000."

The barbs were cruel and unnecessary, but luckily, De Laurentiis' fans took over the comment section to come to her defense. As one user stated, "Why do people feel the need to slander this woman? Amazing and talented chef who brings such relaxing and beautiful food to our lives. Let her be." Another simply wrote, "The fairest of them all love you G."

De Laurentiis is considered by many to be a beautiful woman. She has given interviews on her skin care and beauty routines and has been happily dating boyfriend Shane Farley since 2015. Her fans clearly have her back, and she doesn't seem to let such criticism get the best of her.

Apparently, it isn't just random social media users who dislike Giada De Laurentiis. In fact, a few celebrities don't count themselves as fans.

During a 2017 appearance on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," De Laurentiis and Nicole Kidman were part of a segment together. Kidman seemed to be put off by De Laurentiis and could barely hide her irritation. When it came time for Kidman to taste the focaccia De Laurentiis had prepared for the segment, she took a bite and commented, "It's a little tough. I know you're not meant to criticize, but ... "

Rosie O'Donnell is another celeb who appears to dislike De Laurentiis. In 2016, RadarOnline reported that O'Donnell had invited De Laurentiis' boyfriend, Shane Farley, to a private Manhattan soiree, but did not extend an invite to De Laurentiis. Sources said that De Laurentiis planned to attend anyway, to which another source replied, "It's Rosie's party and she will kick her out. She isn't welcome."

Rachael Ray is yet another celebrity who is rumored to dislike De Laurentiis. Following "Iron Chef America," on which De Laurentiis and Bobby Flay lost to Ray and Mario Batali, De Laurentiis told Hamptons magazine, "It will bother me until the day I die." The loss may have stung especially because Ray is not a professionally trained chef. When asked about her relationship with Ray, De Laurentiis told Redbook, "Do we hang out all the time? No. Are we best friends? No."