RACHAEL Ray has opened up about her unlikely friendship with chef Anthony Bourdain.
The Food Network star recently promoted her new show, Meals in Minutes, and said Anthony hated her at first.
Rachael faced backlash over her new show as fans thought it was too similar to her previous show, 30 Minute Meals.
The star admitted that there wasn’t much difference in the publication, Apetito Magazine.
“It’s not. I just try to make people happy and make them believe in themselves,” she responded when asked if the shows are different.
“All I want people to know is that anyone can do these things. All you have to do is believe in yourself. And anyone can go anywhere in the world if they just cook dinner.
Rachael then spoke about receiving hate online and said she had an “entire online platform dedicated to hating [her].”
“I don’t think there is anything else to life except making it accessible to each other. That’s the bottom line. We must move forward by learning to listen and love each other,” she continued.
“One man who hated me more than anyone on planet Earth was Tony Bourdain, and we ended up not being friends, but friendly.”
Rachael then explained that Anthony, who she referred to as Tony, confronted her about her dislike.
“He was writing about me and how much he didn’t like me, but I booked a band he liked at the music festival we were producing at South by Southwest.
“He said, ‘I don’t know if I should kick a puppy or send her a fruit basket, but she has good taste in music,’” she continued.
“At the time, I asked my boss to send the world’s largest fruit basket to Tony Bourdain with a note ‘I’m just trying to save a puppy’.”
Rachael explained that Anthony wrote her an open letter and said he didn’t give her any reason other than to hate him.
“But he came home late at night with his very tired daughter in his arms, and there was no food in their house, but there was a fruit basket with cheese, crackers and snacks,” Rachael explained.
“He ended the post with ‘I think I give up’.”
The next time the two saw each other, Anthony leaned down and planted a kiss on Rachael’s cheek.
“I started crying,” concluded Rachael.
Anthony passed away in June 2018 after taking his own life while filming his CNN show Parts Unknown.
Rachael and Anthony shared a friendly relationship after the initial tension they suffered.
DISASTER FLOW
Before the interview, fans were confused about how to access Rachael’s show.
Early last year, Rachael announced that her self-titled talk show was ending after 17 seasons.
Since then, fans have been waiting for the TV personality to return with a new series.
That day arrived on Monday with the premiere of her show, Rachael Ray’s Meals in Minutes.
One man who hated me more than anyone on planet Earth was Tony Bourdain, and we ended up not being friends, but friendly.
Raquel RayApetito Magazine
The show moved to the FYI Network instead of the Food Network.
Fans commented on Rachael’s social media posts to admit they had never heard of the channel and didn’t know how to find it.
“Glad I’m not the only one who couldn’t figure out where the channel is fyi,” one fan wrote on Rachael’s Facebook post.
“I looked it up and although I can get most of the channels here on satellite, there are none FYI,” wrote a second.
The user added that they “hope Food Network or HGTV understands.”
“Why go to a station that 90% of us don’t have access to,” a third angry fan asked the chef.
“I already looked, I DIDN’T understand this channel,” said an online user. “I’m very upset.”
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story