CHEF & AUTHOR SANDRA LEE Making Every Moment Count

AFTER BREAST CANCER AND A PUBLIC BREAKUP, THE LIFESTYLE EXPERT IS HEALTHY, IN LOVE AND MAKING HER DREAM SHOW: 'I FEEL EXTREMELY LUCKY'

- ANA CALDERONE

Sandra Lee is standing on the edge of the jetty that lines her Malibu beachfront home when a giant wave crashes over the rocks. She’s soaked by the time she returns to her balcony, but she doesn’t complain that her makeup is smudged or her clothes need changing. She just has one question: “Who has my champagne?” The former Food Network star, who rose to fame by encouraging Americans to cook with what they have in their pantries, is just happy to be here, in the home she purchased in 2019 after her split from former New York governor Andrew Cuomo. “It’s my safe space, the place I just love to be,” says Lee, 58, who points out that she can see the Santa Monica home of her current boyfriend, actor Ben Youcef, from her front door. “I used to be a waitress in Malibu when I was 21. I would drive up and down the PCH. My sister and I picked out our houses and said, ‘Someday when we make it, we’re going to live here.’”

Lee has indeed made it. More than 20 years after her first show, Semi-Homemade Cooking, aired on Food Network, Lee is back on TV with a project she’s equally passionate about. Netflix’s