Former Food Network star Sandra Lee opens up about the “soul-destroying” poverty she experienced as a child and the shame she felt when she used food stamps to feed her family.
Lee, 58, the eldest of five children, spoke about her difficult childhood, including raising her siblings because of her mother’s mental health issues and addiction to prescription drugs.
“She just wouldn’t leave her bedroom and wouldn’t get out of bed,” Lee said in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com.
“At the time, my stepfather wasn’t even in the state,” the star continued. “We were on welfare and food stamps, and I remember going to the mailbox and getting that check.”
The TV chef was only two years old when she and her younger sister Cindy were sent to live with their paternal grandmother, Lorraine Waldroop.
Her mother, Vicky Svitak, who gave birth to her at a young age, had three more children with a man who later became Lee’s stepfather.
Former Food Network star Sandra Lee has opened up about the ‘soul-destroying’ poverty she experienced as a child
As a teenager, Lee helped care for her younger siblings and used food stamps to buy groceries for the family
When the couple separated when Lee was just 11, she took on the role of caregiver for the three youngest children, even managing to feed the family, who lived in Sumner, Washington, on food stamps.
The chef recounted a particularly terrifying experience when she was in school and had to pay for food stamps in front of a popular girl from her school. She wanted to “die” inside.
“I remember standing in line at the grocery store with the food stamps and it was terrifying to me because the girl – she was the most popular girl in school – [and] her parents were a wealthy family [and] “They owned the dairy,” she recalls.
Lee said she pulled out the booklet of food stamps, which felt “like Monopoly money.”
“Nowadays it’s a credit card, so it’s not as soul-destroying, but I can only put it this way: soul-destroying,” she added.
“When you have to pull out that little book of food stamps and pay for it in front of the most popular and richest girl in school [and] to have to do all that in front of this family, I just wanted to die. I was just dying inside.’
Lee, who recently admitted that Ozempic “wasn’t working for her,” also spoke about her love of cooking for her siblings, saying her grandmother sparked her interest at a young age after she and her sister lived with her.
“My grandmother was a great cake baker and was fantastic with frosting, and that was kind of a gift to everyone in her church. She made the wedding cakes and the baby shower cakes and she made all the special birthday cakes, and she didn’t charge anyone to do it,” Lee explained.
“She loved doing it and she would just sit there and decorate cakes. I remember watching her. If I wanted to play with things, the cheapest thing I could do was not get a toy, but some icing and a piping bag with some piping tips.”
Lee pictured in 2007 with her four siblings: John Paul, Cynthia, Kimber and Rich
Lee pictured as a baby with her grandmother, Lorraine Waldroop, who she says first introduced her to baking
Lee and her younger sister, Cindy, were sent to live with their paternal grandmother as children
Of course, Lee shares her love of baking with fans in her new Netflix series, Blue Ribbon Baking Championship, coming to Netflix August 9.
The idea of the series is to find the best bakers from state fairs across the US and have them compete for the ultimate ribbon and $100,000.
According to Lee, nostalgia is the reason the series has been so successful so far.
“The reason why the fairs are so revered and loved is because you go to them when you’re little, you make memories and you eat your favorite foods,” she says fondly.
‘And those are the things that you loved as a kid, whether it’s elephant ears or funnel cakes or whatever you’re into. And every year there’s new ones that you have to try.
“When 45 percent of a country’s population attends something every year, whether it’s a state, provincial or local fair, it can’t help but work if you bring it to life on television.”
Lee then said, “By the way, I hosted the Blue Ribbon Baking Championship on Food Network years ago, and they didn’t believe it and I was like, ‘Are you kidding?’
“It was crazy, I was the most popular show on that network at the time, and I just couldn’t believe it!”
Lee hosts the Blue Ribbon Baking Championship with American Pie star Jason Biggs and is also an executive producer
Lee recently admitted that she tried Ozempic to lose weight, but said it ‘didn’t work’ for her
In addition to finally bringing her TV show to life on the small screen, Lee is also an ambassador for QVC’s Era of Possibilities platform, on which she, together with Queen Latifah, Rita Wilson and Martha Stewart, among others, stands up for women over 50.
Speaking about getting older, she said: ‘I think what happens when you get to 50 is you realise – if you’re lucky – that you’re halfway there, or even further. Your body changes and you have to pay attention to all those things.’
When asked if she feels pressured to look a certain way because she’s on TV, the glamorous blonde, who turned 58 in July, replied: “There’s a reason we all wash our faces, put on lotion and put on makeup.
“I don’t think any of us are going down without a fight. I’m in the Cher camp – do whatever you want, do it!” she urged.