How I Rebuilt My Life

She battled cancer and endured a brutal public breakup. Now, the beloved TV icon talks to Us about picking up the pieces and coming back stronger and happier than ever before

- KEVIN DICKSON

Ten years ago, Sandra Lee had it all: a woman raised in poverty who'd become a massively successful entrepreneur, starring in her Emmy-winning TV show, Semi-Homemade Cooking. The upbeat queen of pantry hacks, 58, was also the longtime partner of handsome and dynamic politician Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York. And then her life - a seemingly perfect mix of elegance and suburban sensibility akin to her iconic tablescapes - derailed rapidly.

First came the breast cancer diagnosis in March 2015, resulting in a double mastectomy and full hysterectomy.

Lee's ongoing cancer treatment left her unable to continue her hit TV series, and it ended later that year after 15 seasons. Still, the worst was yet to come. In 2019, her relationship with Cuomo, 66, imploded, landing the fiercely private Lee in the middle of a prolonged and very public scandal. As photographers documented every step of the end of that relationship, Lee fled New York for L.A. and withdrew from public life.

The woman who sits down with Us in the living room of her Malibu home is a far cry from the Sandra Lee of old. Gone is the perky 50s throwback kitsch that defined Semi-Homemade.

In its place is someone who's gone through hell and come out happier, determined and more authentic. Now she's finally strong enough to talk about what happened. "I've resigned myself to the fact that I will never get over the heartbreak of loss of the last 10 years," she says wistfully.

"The grief has been endless but I will use it to fuel and feed me and make me wiser and stronger." Lee pauses to sip her (made from scratch!) iced tea, her makeup-free face radiant in the natural light. She stares out of her window, tears in her eyes, as she takes in the view: the Pacific Ocean sparkling calmly as a pod of dolphins makes its way up the coast.

"I would say," she continues, finally, "that I've had the most challenging decade of my life."

Dark Times