There's no one who loves having fun with food more than Guy Fieri, which is why it might be a surprise to learn that he's dealt with some difficult times. The Mayor of Flavortown has experienced no shortage of pain and loss throughout his life.
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00:00There's no one who loves having fun with food more than Guy Fieri, which is why it might
00:04be a surprise to learn that he's dealt with some difficult times. The mayor of Flavortown
00:08has experienced no shortage of pain and loss throughout his life.
00:12College marked a turning point in Guy Fieri's life, not primarily from an educational standpoint,
00:17but due to a tragic incident that opened the future restaurateur's eyes to some hard truths.
00:22As Fieri revealed on Now What with Brooke Shields, he was 19 and attending the University
00:27of Nevada in Las Vegas when he was involved in a car accident that left one of his friends
00:31dead.
00:32As he put it,
00:33"'I wasn't driving. I was in the back seat, and unfortunately, I was with a bunch of guys
00:37and we were drinking.'"
00:38A car chase ensued, with cops hot on the boys' trail. The vehicle Fieri was in eventually
00:43flipped over, killing the person who was sitting beside him. Fieri didn't just end up in the
00:48hospital, he was also accused of driving the car, which led the police to arrest him briefly.
00:53Although the situation with the cops was settled before long, Fieri's father didn't let him
00:57off as easily and gave him an earful about the importance of staying grounded. It was
01:01a wake-up call for Fieri, who said,
01:03"'Okay, my family didn't have any money. I'm not the smartest kid, but if I'm going to
01:07win, I'm going to win based upon how hard I play and how disciplined I am.'"
01:11"'To me, second place is the first loser.'"
01:14Guy Fieri was acquainted with some of life's hardest truths at an early age, having witnessed
01:19his younger sister Morgan suffer from cancer starting when she was only four years old.
01:23Though it went into remission during her teens, tragedy reared its head even more ferociously
01:28in her late 30s, when she was diagnosed with melanoma. Morgan declined chemotherapy,
01:32owing to personal beliefs, and died in 2011 at the age of 38. Fieri told GQ,
01:38"'Losing my sister to cancer was — that was the worst thing in the world, man.'"
01:42The event marked a turning point in the celebrity chef's life, and though he admitted to feeling
01:46angry about Morgan's death when it happened, it also taught him resilience. He told People magazine,
01:51"'When you watch your mom and dad bury their kid and still get up and go live their life,
01:55I don't know that I have that kind of strength as a person.'"
01:57Fieri's personal experiences have inspired him to help families affected by cancer in
02:02collaboration with Make-A-Wish Foundation, which honored him with the Chris Gracious Award.
02:06As he said to Delish,
02:07"'It's the greatest award I've ever received.'"
02:10In 2011, Guy Fieri was just coming to terms with the death of his sister Morgan when his
02:14family found itself in a legal tug-of-war over who would get custody of the child who survived
02:19her. Morgan shared her son Jules with her husband Dane Pape, who got custody of the
02:23then-11-year-old after a ruling in Marin County, according to TMZ. Fieri's parents had reportedly
02:28sought custody of their grandchild, citing Pape's lack of means to care for Jules.
02:32Although the court favored Pape, he was not immediately able to take home his child,
02:36as Jules had accompanied Fieri to a remote vacation spot in Northern California where
02:41network services didn't reach. The legal back-and-forth didn't restrict Fieri and his
02:45nephew's relationship from strengthening over the years. As seen on his Instagram,
02:49Jules spent a great deal of time with the whole Fieri family, including his cousins and
02:53grandparents. He holds a degree from California State University San Marcos and aspires to make
02:58it big in the music industry. Fieri has always encouraged Jules, as well as his sons Hunter and
03:03Ryder, to seek independent success outside of the Flavortown empire.
03:07And I told my boys, none of this that I've been building are you gonna get,
03:12unless you come and take it from me."
03:14Too many cooks may or may not spoil the broth, but they could end up making it more bitter than
03:18it needs to be. As a key figure in the American culinary circuit, Guy Fieri has remained a
03:22constant target of criticism, most notably from fellow food critics. Famously profound
03:27cooking legend Anthony Bourdain was unabashed in his disregard for Fieri, who stood in stark
03:32contrast to Bourdain's restrained personality with his larger-than-life character. The parts
03:36unknown star once told Adweek,
03:38"...I find Guy Fieri a rich and deep vein of comedy. There's no doubt about it,
03:42and he's worthy of a solid and maybe relentless mocking as anyone who has made his sartorial
03:46choices deserves."
03:48Bourdain's feelings about Fieri were widely understood to have stemmed from his distaste
03:52for massy, entertainment-focused productions. That was a sentiment restaurateur David Chang
03:56echoed back in 2009 at a food festival in New York, where he used some choice expletives to
04:01deride Fieri's particular brand of cooking. Fieri did not endure the criticism quietly,
04:06hitting back frequently in interviews. He admitted that the hate got to him sometimes,
04:10but he seemed to grow a thicker skin, telling Parade,
04:13"...I'm not going to make everybody happy, and anybody who wants to hate is going to hate.
04:17You have to be confident in who you are and what you're doing."
04:20During his time as a VIP in the entertainment world, Guy Fieri has accumulated a star-studded
04:25social circle in which he has loved and lost many friends. In 2019, he had to bid farewell
04:30to fellow restaurateur and Food Network regular Carl Ruiz, who died of a cardiovascular disease
04:35in his sleep. Ruiz had established himself as a celebrity chef in his own right, but it was his
04:40appearance on an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives that launched him to fame in 2013.
04:45This is like culinary Disneyland, and this is Goofy.
04:50Fieri's tribute post to Ruiz on social media read in part,
04:54"...over the years, I've met a lot of great people, but a friend like Carl
04:57is one in a hundred million."
04:58Fieri also grieved the death of Smash Mouth singer Steve Harwell in 2023.
05:03Harwell's career, which was at its peak in the 1990s and early 2000s,
05:07had declined after a string of physical and mental health issues affected his ability to perform.
05:12During the final stage of his life, the California native had been in hospice care
05:16and was dealing with liver failure. On Instagram, Fieri posted a touching tribute to the late
05:20musician, with whom he didn't share just a great friendship, but also an uncanny resemblance.
05:25He wrote simply,
05:26"...today is a sad day. I will miss my friend."
05:29Even though he's been behind the wheel for over a decade on Diners, Drive-Ins,
05:32and Dives, Guy Fieri hasn't always had the best luck with cars. Years after the accident of his
05:37youth, Fieri faced another setback in 2011 when a vehicle from his luxury fleet was stolen by
05:42a teenager. Max Wade, who was 16 at the time of the robbery, broke into a car dealership
05:47in California where Fieri's $200,000 Lamborghini Gallardo was being serviced and made off with it.
05:52Rather than sell the car and run the likely risk of it being traced back to Fieri,
05:56Wade kept the car in storage in Point Richmond, taking it out for a spin every now and then.
06:01Fieri joked that he didn't quite believe it when people would tell him about their sightings.
06:04"...my friends call me and say, listen, I just saw your car on the freeway. And I'm like,
06:07believe it or not, there's more than one yellow convertible Lamborghini,
06:11you know, probably in Northern California."
06:13But sure enough, he was surprised to learn that it was the very same car.
06:16"...well, to come find out, you know, that he was driving it. Brave kid."
06:21It took a year for authorities to track down Fieri's car thief,
06:24albeit for a different crime. In 2012, Wade opened fire on a vehicle containing a teen couple.
06:29He was reportedly infatuated with the female passenger, who managed to escape the attack
06:33with her boyfriend with only minor injuries. The shooting case led investigators to Wade's
06:38storage facility, where Fieri's luxury ride was found. Wade was sentenced to 16 months in prison
06:43for stealing Fieri's car, but it didn't quite matter, because he also got a life sentence
06:47for the attempted murder of the couple. With great fame comes great scrutiny,
06:51and often an even greater probability of run-ins with the law.
06:54Guy Fieri is probably all too familiar with this idea, as every time the restaurateur
06:59moves some pieces around in his food empire, the ripple effect it causes isn't always in his favor.
07:04When he decided to shutter his beloved California restaurant chain Johnny Garlic's in 2015,
07:08he was met with legal resistance from his business partner, Steve Gruber.
07:12Unwilling to discontinue the brand he co-founded with Fieri in 1996,
07:16Gruber sued the celebrity chef and sought to buy out his shares in the company.
07:19A tussle ensued for months over the value of Fieri's shares before the matter was settled,
07:24and Gruber took sole ownership. As fate would have it, though, Johnny Garlic's shut up shop
07:28in 2018. Downtown Flavortown, another Fieri food brand in Tennessee, was slapped with a lawsuit
07:34in 2022 for alleged labor law violations and mistreatment of staff. Allegations of anti-Semitism,
07:40sexism, and homophobia also persist around Fieri, courtesy of a lawsuit from 2011.
07:45Food Network and David Page, the ex-producer of Diners, Drive-Ins,
07:49and Dives, were caught in a legal battle that hinged on an alleged breach of contract and
07:53made troubling revelations about the workplace conditions on Fieri's show.
07:56Page told the Star Tribune about Fieri after the case was settled, saying,
08:00"...as happens to many instant celebrities,
08:02he pretty quickly decided he no longer wanted to be produced or directed."
08:06In 2012, California darling Guy Fieri tried to wedge his way into New York's formidable culinary
08:11scene. His attempt took the form of an extravagant restaurant called Guy's American Kitchen and Bar
08:16that, given Fieri's growing television celebrity, seemed promising. When the 500-seater gastronomic
08:21hotspot opened its doors in Times Square, it sure made an impact, just not in the best way.
08:26Any kind words visitors might have had to spare for Fieri's giant eatery were
08:30overshadowed by food critic Pete Wells' unforgettable takedown of it in The New
08:33York Times. The piece, which started off asking whether or not Fieri had actually
08:38eaten at his own restaurant, became a viral sensation by rattling off a series of inflammatory
08:42questions. One section reads,
08:44"'Hey, did you try that blue drink? The one that glows like nuclear waste? The watermelon
08:48margarita? Any idea why it tastes like some combination of radiator fluid and formaldehyde?'
08:53Responding to the criticism, Fieri told Today that Wells' piece seemed motivated by an agenda
08:58to go after a non-local chef. He defended his business venture by saying,
09:02"'This is more heart and soul. This is not just a name stamp.'"
09:05Who said awesome? Who said they went to Guy's American, it was awesome?
09:08Me.
09:08You did? Okay, come on, you have to go with me, we're gonna go for a carbonara.
09:12The restaurant pushed through and was reportedly raking in up to $17 million,
09:16but that still wasn't enough to keep its place in one of New York's most desirable locations.
09:20It permanently shut down in 2017.
09:23When it started out in the 1990s, Food Network was a revelation. It opened the doors for
09:28millions of Americans to discover and indulge their taste for cooking shows, learning from
09:32legendary chefs in the convenience of their own homes. The channel quickly built up an impressive
09:36roster of celebrity names, including Emeril Lagasse, Ina Garten, Bobby Flay, and Anthony
09:41Bourdain, eventually finding Fieri in 2006. After winning Food Network star that year,
09:46Guy Fieri shot up the ranks and, with several shows under his belt,
09:50became one of the faces of the channel. While Food Network viewed him as a valuable asset,
09:54many took exception to the commercial direction culinary TV took after Fieri's introduction to
09:58the lineup. Former stars like Bourdain were unreserved in their criticism of the network
10:03and its new strain of celebrity chefs who were less known for their abilities in the kitchen
10:07and more known for their bombastic personalities. Post-2010, the network's
10:11revelance came into further question when Forbes noted a ratings drop.
10:14Journalist Alan Salkin, author of From Scratch, The Uncensored History of the Food Network, stated,
10:19"...the network doesn't know where to go and has lost its courage."
10:22For many, the supposed decline boiled down to the channel's spiky-haired figurehead.
10:26Despite the scorn of culinary elites, nevertheless, Fieri remains Food Network's
10:31highest-paid star, with a $100 million deal to his name as of 2023.