Sandra Lee Reflects on the Last 10 Years an What's She's Learned
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00:00Hi, this is Sandra Lee and I am Us Weekly's Cover Story.
00:19Well the last 10 years have been a little difficult.
00:21I was diagnosed with early stage breast cancer, had a double mastectomy.
00:27And my uncle was diagnosed with cancer, which was horrible.
00:31And then a very important 14-year relationship in my life ended.
00:36And then I spent the next years moving from my precious home, Lily Pond.
00:43And then I think I bought my uncle five years, going back to my uncle.
00:48My sole focus was keeping him with us, and I did.
00:52And I took him on most of his bucket list, things that he wanted to do, travels, like
01:00things he wanted to accomplish.
01:02So we did that.
01:03And then COVID hit also, there was COVID in there.
01:08And all those things and kind of reflecting on my life, my career slowed down.
01:12And I found this beautiful home and it just brought so much light and life to me.
01:18You're either at the beginning of being hurt, in the middle of being hurt, or at the end
01:21of being hurt.
01:22And then somewhere in between there, everybody has a great life, but we all go through pain.
01:26It's not just me.
01:28And I chose to live my life a certain way and make changes a certain way and do what
01:32I need to do a certain way.
01:34And I'm thrilled because now I have a new show.
01:36I'm part of QVC's 50, which I've been with QVC for 30 years.
01:43So it's so nice to have the longevity and to be in these families for so long.
01:48And it's such an honor to be part of the Netflix family now.
01:51You know, we all have ups and downs in life.
01:55Nothing is perfect.
01:56Being raised and having to feed our family and live on welfare and food stamps was devastating
02:05when you're growing up.
02:07Being raised a Jehovah's Witness, where there was no Christmas, no birthdays, no joy, no
02:11holidays, no nothing, is challenging when you're growing up.
02:13Because those things bring joy and life and memories.
02:19Understanding the way that I worked, being a waitress here in Malibu and wanting a home
02:25like this when I was young and saying, if I work hard, someday I might get it.
02:30And if I get it, it's going to be here.
02:32And you know, just always keeping your eyes moving forward, striving to do better, striving
02:39to, you know, earn your goals and accolades and having great friends and doing things
02:47with family and doing things for your family and your friends and traveling and dancing
02:52and listening to music.
02:53And it's all, it's what everybody needs to do.
02:57Some days it's one day at a time.
03:00Some days it's everything you can do to get out of bed.
03:02And I get that.
03:04Some days you walk in the bathroom and you throw up and you do.
03:08And some days you cry and you lay in your room with drapes shut and you cry all day
03:11long.
03:12Just did that last week.
03:14So it's fine.
03:15Everybody needs those moments, but you have to pop back up and you have to keep going.
03:18And that's what we do.
03:19Well, the new show is called the Blue Ribbon Baking Championship.
03:23And it has the best in fair blue ribbon, which is an iconic blue ribbon.
03:28It is so grand.
03:29And I'm going to show that to you in just a second, but it's based on state fairs nationwide.
03:35And you have to be a former ribbon winner.
03:37State fairs are probably the go-to for most of American families and everybody loves them.
03:44It's kind of like the girl in school that everybody loves is that's the state fair.
03:49So I won the blue ribbon in the LA County fair in 1992.
03:59And I decided when all these competition shows were so hot and I was in food, what would
04:04be interesting?
04:05What would be something that you teach people, right?
04:08Not just competitive and compelling, but what would teach people?
04:14What would be in their wheelhouse or their backyard?
04:17That's beloved.
04:19How do you create the next semi homemade, but in food competition?
04:23So state fairs, former ribbon winners of state fairs come together.
04:27We have 10 competitors over eight art series.
04:32So it's elimination and it is very competitive.
04:37These are some of the most competitive people in the world.
04:39And by the way, the first cooking competitions were at state fairs.
04:45So this is the originating element of those competitions.