Sandra Lee understood "ain't nobody got time for that!" long before it was a meme. After all, she built an empire schilling the semi-homemade lifestyle, encouraging people everywhere to cut themselves a break every now and then, using yellow cake mix, Bacardi and pudding for a shortcut rum cake, or doctoring a blackberry cobbler with frozen berries and Bisquick.
That philosophy has made her a household name since she debuted on Food Network in 2003, but despite those years in the spotlight, people still have a lot of questions about the star. Using Google's autocomplete as our guide, we looked into some of the questions most people still wonder about the star—and uncovered a few other surprising facts you may not know (like her QVC roots or the surprising job she'd be doing if she weren't a famous cook).
1. She's Not Related to That Other Famous "Lee."
Lee certainly hasn't shied away from calling for pre-made foods in her recipes—including pound cake mix—but that doesn't mean she's promoting them because she gets a cut of every treat sold in stores. The Semi-Homemade star isn't related to Sara Lee. (The baked goods company is actually named after founder Charlie Lubin's daughter.)
In fact, Lee was born Sandra Lee Waldroop, but she dropped her last name as she got older.
2. She Ran a $6 Million Business at 27.
And it had nothing to do with food. After dropping out of college, Lee started pitching stun guns and Black & Decker security systems at home and garden shows, before developing her own line of DIY curtain hardware, which she called Kurtain Kraft. She spent the $50,000 she'd saved up to create an infomercial, and the products started selling like crazy. Within 9 months, the fledgling company had made $6 million.
When Food Network eventually came calling, Lee didn't even want to do a cooking show. She pushed for something a little more HGTV; they countered by allowing her to create "tablescapes"— Lee's brand of thematic, ornately decorated table settings—as long as she cooked, too, New York Magazine reports. She agreed, and the rest is history.
3. She Beat Breast Cancer.
Apparently, a lot of people have wondered about Lee's health: As soon as we typed "Does Sandra Lee," Google auto-completed with "...have cancer." The cookbook author has been very open about her battle with breast cancer, which she revealed in May 2015, just a week before undergoing a double mastectomy. She announced she was cancer-free in early September of that year, AOL reports, saying she was "very, very, very lucky" to have been diagnosed early.
Though Lee has been cancer-free for almost a year, she's had to undergo multiple reconstructive surgeries since then. She decided to share every step of this journey publicly, so that others would know they're not alone—and to keep her fans in the loop with her life.
"Well, I think it's really important to kind of share who you are," she told Fox News. "And, for me, to have taken that and have gone underground would have been a disservice to the people that I serve, which are those over-extended homemakers, and it wouldn't have been who I am."
4. She's Become a Huge Advocate for Cancer Research.
Since battling breast cancer, Lee's been using her celebrity status to combat the disease on two fronts: First, through advocating for The No Excuses Bill, which would allow women to get free mammograms in New York, and through a fundraiser with Mastercard. For every $10 a person spends at restaurants from now through Aug. 19 using the card, the company will donate to Stand Up to Cancer, up to $4 million.
5. She's Not Secretly Married, Okay?
Several Google searches auto-completed with questions about Lee's romantic life, specifically whether she's married. To set the record straight, she was—from 2001 to 2005, to former KB Home CEO Bruce Karatz. The two divorced, and later, she started dating New York governor Andrew Cuomo. She and Cuomo have been dating for more than a decade, according to Biography.com. The two haven't announced any plans to tie the knot, so those dreaming of what a Sandra Lee wedding reception tablescape would look like will just have to keep waiting.
6. She Hasn't Had Children.
Apparently, a lot of people wonder about Lee's family life: As soon as we typed "Does Sandra Lee" into Google, it auto-completed with "...have a daughter," followed by the aforementioned cancer question. The daughter question may be because she often posts photos with a young, blonde woman who looks remarkably like her. It's her niece, Danielle. (She actually has three nieces and six nephews.)
Cuomo has three daughters—Michaela, Mariah and Cara—from his previous marriage to Kerry Kennedy.
7. She Has Two Secrets to Making 50 Look Like 25.
Lee was recently featured in People's 2016 Most Beautiful issue, under a section on stars that look half their age. Her secret? Getting at least eight hours of sleep a night—"when you sleep, it's when your body regenerates," she told the magazine—and the occasional Borghese mud mask.
8. Her Alternate Career Might Surprise You.
If things hadn't worked out with Food Network, Lee says she'd probably still be in the entertainment industry—just a totally different side of it. "I can't sing but I have a great ear. I would be in management or I would be a talent scout. I would want to work with musicians in the business," she told Digital Journal.
9. She Has a Trick to Balancing It All.
After publishing 27 cookbooks, running a magazine and hosting four TV shows—along with other partnerships and projects—Lee knows a thing or two about time management. She schedules her time to focus on four key areas of her life: family, philanthropy, friends and career. "I probably spend equal amounts of time on each of those," she says. "My days are broken up pretty specifically."
10. She Has a Salty Sense of Humor.
Back in 2011, Lee shocked the world when a Food Network blooper reel leaked, showing the star making crude jokes on set and—*gasp!*—cursing. At one point, she quips, "I'm semi-homemade—all of me," while grabbing her breasts. The outtake landed her on the cover of the New York Daily News.
11. Yes, She's Tall.
Lee's long, lean physique has caused plenty of people to wonder just how tall the star truly is. (Enough so that when we researched the "Sara Lee" question, a box in the search results popped up showing that people often also ask about her height, whether she's married, and "What's wrong with Sandra Lee?", apparently in regard to her health.)
For those of you who keep wondering, she's 5-foot-9 1/2, according to an interview with Zap2It.
12. She's Written a Romance Novel.
Back in 2013, Lee took a break from writing recipes to pen chick lit. The book received a ton of attention before it even hit store shelves—particularly speculation that it was based on Lee's relationship with Cuomo, since the love interest matched his description, and the protagonist happened to love food, work in TV and own a cockatoo, just like Lee. (Clearly, people have been obsessed with this power couple since Day One.) A source close to Lee was quick to shut down the gossip, explaining that The Recipe Box was pure fiction, designed to appeal to her target demographic.
13. She Has Her Own 'Beyhive.'
Well, sort of. Her haters call themselves "shrikes," referring to Lee as "Shamdra" or "SLop" online, and they call her admirers "Fandras." If any publicity is good publicity, that's got to count for something, right?
Lee says she doesn't let the criticism get to her. At least, not anymore. "[It] doesn't bother me at all," she told Vogue in 2011. "What I do speaks for itself."
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