Rachael Ray reveals how she copes with ‘dark days’ and feeling ‘sick as a dog’ as fans suspect she has health problems

RACHAEL Ray has revealed how she copes with ‘dark days’ and feeling ‘sick as a dog’ after fans have suspected that she has health problems.

The TV chef, 56, has sparked concern in recent months over her health.

In the latest episode of podcast I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, Rachael confessed that her pooch makes her feel better.

The star discusses being childless with Bob Harper - and they both agree they put their "unconditional love" into their dogs.

She admitted that she has really been "bashed" through the decades to not have children, but sticks by her decision as they have helped her through a lot.

Rachael: "It just brings you a ray of life. What it bring to a human, that unconditional love, it really gets you through dark days.

"For me, if I have the worst day, or sick as a dog, the things that makes me feel best, go home, climb into bed with a blanket with my dog!"

Rachael is a proud dog mom to Bella Boo Blue - who she adopted in June 2020.

The TV star lost her pitbull Isaboo a month prior.

Isaboo, who Rachael and John brought home from a shelter, often made surprise appearances on The Rachael Ray Show – much to the delight of viewers.

Mourning her death, the couple remembered Isaboo as "a pitbull who taught us more about unconditional love, empathy, and understanding of one another than we could have ever imagined."

They added, "⁣We will open our home and our hearts to another animal in need, because that is what Izzy would want. ⁣

"We’ll miss her sense of humor. Her Wile E. Coyote-ness. Her energy and her game-on attitude. She was a fighter. "

In recent months Rachael has worried fans over her health after back in September they begged ‘are you ok?’ as they ‘didn’t recognize’ her in her latest cooking video.

Earlier this week she admitted that she feels her "time might be shorter".

In the same podcast, she opened up about growing older with her longtime friend, The Biggest Loser trainer and fitness guru Bob.

During the wide-ranging conversation about their lives and careers, Bob told Rachael he enjoys "living in the moment" and "wanting to learn new things on any given day," despite being long out of formal school.

Rachael revealed she "gets up at 4 o'clock in the morning."

"I've gotten worse as I've gotten older, because I feel like time might be shorter, and I want my time to be more, every minute of it," she told Bob.

Just last month Rachael made a cryptic comment about ‘sad things that happen to you’ as fans remain concerned about her health.

The Morning Show star Billy opened up about his passion for several canceled projects, including the Apple TV+ series Hello Tomorrow, which was canned after just one season.

Rachael replied: "That's the beauty of life.

"You have to learn, and I think this is a big talking point for living a long life and having a long life and having a career, is you have to learn to understand when things are sad and what everything means ultimately to your choices.

"Not everything that feels bad is bad.

"Sometimes things that happen to you that from the outside look sad, they also help you propel forward and understand other people."

In October the cook also suffered some bad falls.

Speaking on her podcast, she said: “I like to help carry in the wood,"

"I had a couple of bad falls in the last couple of weeks so I haven’t been doing that in a while. 

“I love carrying wood. How many pieces of wood did John carry? Can I carry more? I don’t say that to John, I just say that to myself.”

Rachael has also appeared to be slurring her speech during the cooking show.

The author has been married to John Cusimano since 2005.