Tragic Life Details About Giuliana Rancic

Trigger warning: This article contains discussions about pregnancy loss and eating disorders.

Whether she's on-screen or working behind the scenes, Giuliana Rancic can do it all and she has forged a remarkable career over the past couple of decades. The Italian-born television host, journalist, fashion designer, author, and reality star has made quite the name for herself since she joined E! News in 2002, moving up the ranks until Rancic left the network 17 years later. As the former "Fashion Police" co-host told People in May 2024, "I moved to this country as a little girl from Italy, and when we moved to America I loved everything about this notion of Hollywood. After grad school I moved to L.A. on a whim to pursue TV hosting, and it was incredible."

While Rancic has been undeniably successful working in Hollywood alongside some of the biggest names in the business, a series of unfortunate circumstances eventually led the star to shy away more and more from the limelight. Fans of the entertainment correspondent have been wondering what really happened to the former E! News anchor, especially after one particularly regrettable comment she made about Zendaya. From Rancic's childhood insecurities to her numerous health issues and the public turning against her, here are the most tragic life details about Giuliana Rancic.

It's hard to imagine Giuliana Rancic being anything but utterly confident in her own skin, especially since she's had such an incredible transformation over the years. But sadly, Rancic actually had a very difficult time growing up. The reporter was diagnosed with scoliosis, a medical condition characterized by a curvature in the spine, when she was just 13 years old. Anyone who's endured the tumultuous years of teen-hood knows that it's already a difficult age, and Rancic understandably became even more insecure because of her condition.

In her 2015 memoir "Going Off Script," she wrote, "The thing about scoliosis is it's a different kind of ugly for a young girl. It's one thing to hate your hair or to have bad skin, but those are things you can hopefully treat. [Scoliosis] is very hard to camouflage and it's all you think about all day, every minute of the day." The TV personality continued, "I always wore baggy clothes. And I trained myself so I always looked like I was leaning on something."

At the age of 21, Rancic had corrective surgery that straightened her spine, leading to a drastically improved posture. However, the experience never truly left the star. In 2013, she retweeted a user's post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that read, "It sucks being different, sucks having uneven shoulders & ribs but it will make you strong." Rancic responded: "It will. I promise."

Giuliana Rancic was clearly destined for stardom from an early age, but things didn't exactly go the way she hoped. In her memoir, the entertainment correspondent recalled how much she strived for perfection despite struggling with her self image: "[As a teen] I tried to enter pageants and audition for movies and model, because I think I was hoping someday someone would tell me I was pretty. I just wasn't. I was crooked." Rancic did eventually graduate from the Barbizon Modeling and Acting School, of which stars such as David Archuleta, Ryan Phillippe, and Carmen Electra are all alumni. But, while speaking with ABC News in 2015, she admitted that it was all a bit of a disaster.

"I was 13, with bad skin, a bad perm, and I think I went to Barbizon because I just wanted someone who wasn't my family to tell me, 'You're pretty.' [...] I was hoping at the end when we took our final test, I would be deemed a runway model and then I could move to New York with my modeling certificate and be signed by Ford models. Unfortunately, the final test, I received 'athletic model,'" the star explained. With her dreams crushed, Rancic pursued journalism instead, eventually getting hired to work for E! News.

Before Giuliana Rancic found her prince, she had to learn some unfortunate lessons in love. The TV star was initially linked to Jerry O'Connell in 2003 and the two were inseparable for about a year after that. However, the charming leading man may not have been as sweet as he seemed, and Rancic wasn't afraid to put him on blast in her memoir. The former "Fashion Police" co-host revealed all about how O'Connell had cheated on her with Geri "Ginger Spice" Halliwell, and when Rancic called him out on it, his response was flat. "[He said,] 'Yeah, I know. I'm so sorry. I don't know what happened.' He had as much emotion as the customer-service representative who tells you your bags missed the flight," she noted. 

In addition to his infidelity, Rancic also divulged the details of O'Connell ditching her at a party to flirt with Rebecca Romijn (whom he went on to marry in 2007), and the actor more or less ghosted Rancic shortly after. O'Connell didn't deny anything when asked about the accusations on an April 2015 episode of "Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen." The "Stand By Me" star remarked, "We dated, then we didn't date, and, uh, I was in the book. I didn't think that much of it." As he reasoned, "I don't want to say anything negative. She's a very nice girl. We had a very fun time. It was decades ago."

Fast forward to 2005, Giuliana Rancic (née DePandi) was interviewing the first-ever winner of "The Apprentice," Bill Rancic, and they totally hit it off. He proposed the following year, and the celebrity couple tied the knot in September 2007. Not long after, they were ready to have children, but Giuliana tragically experienced fertility issues, which led the celebrity couple to undergo IVF (in vitro fertilization) treatments. In an April 2018 blog post for CCRM Fertility, the television host wrote about this difficult time in her life: "At age 33, my career was thriving, I had a wonderful partner, I was healthy — running six miles a day. I felt amazing. I felt strong. I certainly did not feel old. I still had plenty of time to have kids. [...] No one ever told me, 'Oh, by the way, your eggs change when you reach a certain age.' I definitely had misconceptions about my fertility. In many ways, I felt blindsided."

The entertainment correspondent began the first of several rounds of IVF in 2009, with her doting husband by her side, and their struggle was televised on the reality show "Giuliana and Bill." However, after several failed attempts, it became clear that they were going to have to try an alternative path. Unfortunately, after struggling to conceive for four years, Rancic was diagnosed with a major health issue that changed everything for her.

In the midst of trying to start a family via IVF, Giuliana Rancic received heartbreaking news when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. The journalist divulged the details of her health scare for the first time while speaking with "Today" in October 2011. Rancic detailed how, at the age of 36 and after her third round of IVF, she had to have a mammogram. "They called me the next day and they said, 'We need you to come back, we see something.' And I remember where I was when I heard that, I was driving to work and it was just a kick in the stomach. And I knew something was wrong," she said at the time (via TMZ).

Initially hesitant to have the mammogram in the first place, as she believed she wouldn't need one until the age of 40, Rancic's doctor informed her that he wouldn't feel comfortable continuing with the IVF process until she got the all clear. In an October 2020 essay for E! News, the journalist confessed, "I definitely feel like it was fate that I discovered my breast cancer the way I did. I was 36 and going through IVF and my doctor, Dr. William Schoolcraft, told me that part of the CCRM [fertility clinic] protocol is for patients to get a mammogram. [...] So trust me when I say I am very thankful to my doctor."

Shortly after Giuliana Rancic's early stage tumor was discovered, she underwent a lumpectomy, which means that the cancerous tissues were surgically removed. Unfortunately, the operation wasn't successful in removing all the affected cells, and she had to decide between radiation treatment or a mastectomy (the removal of her entire breast). Because going through chemotherapy may have forced the couple to forgo having a child, the former "Fashion Police" co-host opted for a double mastectomy and breast reconstruction.

During a March 2012 interview with Glamour, Rancic discussed the recovery process, which was anything but easy. "At first I didn't want to look in the mirror, because [...] I knew I wasn't going to look like a bikini model, so why look? [...] I had thought I was going to be terrified of what I saw," she admitted. However, when the TV personality did eventually see what her new body looked like, she was surprisingly pleased. Mobility was difficult for a while as well, since, "At first I couldn't lift my arms to brush my teeth. [My husband] Bill brushed them for me. We took baby steps."

Thankfully, Rancic has now been cancer free for over a decade and she's become an advocate for early detection, working with organizations like the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and The Pink Agenda. As she informed Cure in 2023, "I'm part of an incredible community of survivors and thrivers and it's such a wonderful community of people."

On top of the enormous burden of a cancer diagnosis, Giuliana Rancic also had to put off her third round of IVF treatments because of the associated medication. In her October 2020 E! News article, the popular television personality explained that, even after her double mastectomy, the road ahead was still rough. "I then was on daily medication for five years, which like the surgery, definitely had its tough moments. I think looking forward to becoming a mom and then eventually becoming one helped take my mind off my recovery and treatment," she divulged. The Rancics didn't give up on their dream of becoming parents, and enlisted the help of a surrogate.

In August 2012, less than a year after the journalist's major surgery, Edward "Duke" Rancic was born and she finally became a mother. In May 2024, Giuliana updated the public on just how much their lives had changed since welcoming him while speaking with People. "When we got married and we set out to start a family, we didn't realize that we were going to have the path we had, which was struggling to get pregnant in fertility," the bestselling author acknowledged. "Thankfully we're fortunate enough to have a wonderful healthy child, but [...] even in interviews before, Bill and I would say, 'Oh we want four kids.' But it's like, God gives you what is right for you." 

Understandably, having spent years trying to conceive and even enduring a miscarriage during the IVF process, it was a joy for Giuliana and Bill Rancic to finally become parents. With the success of their son Duke's birth through their surrogate, the television personalities were eager to try to expand their small family. Tragically, things didn't go to plan as Bill told People in May 2014. "We've been trying to have another baby. Unfortunately our surrogate Delphine, who we love very much, had a miscarriage. It's something that we didn't see coming. We were devastated," he revealed. 

The Rancics' surrogate was approximately nine weeks pregnant when she experienced the miscarriage. Bill continued, "We were pretty close to getting into the safe zone. We experienced a miscarriage years ago when we were trying with Giuliana, so we had been keeping the pregnancy news tight to the vest. [...] Giuliana was rather distraught at first, but she's tough. In times like this we rely on our faith. Once the tears went away we started to look towards the future." To this day, the couple is yet to have another child, perhaps deciding to instead put all their focus into raising their only son.

When Guiliana Rancic was presenting on the red carpet for E! News during the 2015 Golden Globes, the internet was flooded with harsh criticism over her noticeably thin frame. Several X users suggested that she needed to eat more, while one even wrote that she "looks like skin and bones," (via the Daily Mail). As Rancic pointed out to People at the time, "Some people were saying, 'The cancer is probably back.' And they were accusing me of every eating disorder. I thought to myself, 'God, if someone really thought I had an eating disorder, what a horrible way to approach it.'" But the truth about Rancic's weight loss was that she was still taking her cancer medication, which is known to cause it.

Dr. Oz even gave his input to Us Weekly in April of the same year, confirming that Rancic's medication, alongside her impressive metabolism and history with scoliosis would all make her appear thinner, "But there's no question that she's too skinny." During her People interview, the E! News correspondent explained that despite eating more, she was unable to put on any additional weight. Rancic also addressed how the criticism made her feel, admitting, "It's really hurtful. I'm sorry that some people think I'm 'disgustingly skinny,' as they put it, but there's nothing I can do. I'm lucky that I even have the type of cancer that reacts to the medicine."

E!'s "Fashion Police" had long been a go-to for those curious about which celebrities rocked the red carpet (and who ultimately flopped with their outfit choice). Giuliana Rancic was a staple of the show and she'd had a smooth run for over a decade — that is, until she made a shocking comment about Zendaya during an Oscars red carpet edition of the show in 2015. During a taped segment, Rancic spoke about the actor's look, which included long dreadlocks, quipping: "She has such a tiny frame that this hair to me overwhelms her, it's really heavy it overwhelms her, like I feel like she smells like patchouli oil and weed." The comment was deemed racially insensitive at best, and Rancic came under fire.

The TV personality subsequently explained to "Today" that what she'd actually meant had been entirely lost during the edit. "You know, I made a reference to the hippie culture. I talked about patchouli oil, which is a hippie perfume. [...] I made peace signs, I said 'bohemian' twice — those were taken out for time. So when the joke aired, some people were offended by it," she said. Rancic also argued that despite having plenty of editors and producers working on the show, alongside a studio audience, nobody flagged her edited remarks as possibly racist. 

Giuliana Rancic has had a handful of controversial moments over the years, but none compared to when her "Fashion Police" comments went viral. Zendaya responded in a tweet posted to X in February 2015, which read in part: "I was hit with ignorant slurs and pure disrespect. To say that an 18 year old young woman with locs must smell of patchouli oil or 'weed' is not only a large stereotype but outrageously offensive. [...] Certain remarks cannot go unchecked." Rancic quickly apologized to Zendaya, acknowledging the harm stereotypes cause and how she's learned from the experience, and she later spoke out about how she doesn't tolerate racism either. Despite the Disney Channel alum publicly accepting her apology, and encouraging others to do so as well, the damage was done.

Rancic and her family soon became the target of horrifying death threats. The E! News host detailed the terrifying ordeal during an interview with People, recalling, "I started very quickly getting death threats. People were sending me pictures of the barrel of a gun saying, 'I'm going to kill your family.' It was awful." Rancic went on to acknowledge, "It was a very unfortunate incident. I'm so regretful that people interpreted the joke [as they did]. I hurt people and I feel terrible about that. And I learned a really important lesson that if people are offended, it doesn't matter the intent."