Food Network star Sandra Lee celebrated her 58th birthday by sharing a sizzling Instagram album with her fiancé Ben Youcef, 45.
Sandra was locking lips with her longtime paramour in all of the pictures, leaving no doubt as to her irrepressible passion for him.
‘Best birthday gift ever was Ben! Thank you for chasing me up the street and not taking NO NO NO for an answer!’ she crowed in her caption.
‘You were right! Thank you God for such wonderful man to get to kiss,’ she wrote, showering praise on the Algerian actor.
Ahead of her birthday celebrations this Wednesday, she added that she was ‘so grateful for my love!! Happy Everything for Everyone! Sandy xoxo.’
Food Network star Sandra Lee celebrated her 58th birthday by sharing a sizzling Instagram album with her fiancé Ben Youcef, 45
A little over a year and a half ago, Sandra revealed that she and Ben are so close-knit that ‘We have each other’s passwords on our phone.’
She gushed: ‘We trust each other completely. There’s no question that we can’t ask each other and the other one won’t be completely forthcoming,’ per E! News.
Sandra is famous for her Semi-Homemade brand, which revolves around creating meals out of a mixture of fresh and pre-packaged goods.
She applied the Semi-Homemade name to a string of cookbooks as well as a hit Food Network show that ran 15 seasons from 2003 to 2011.
In 2005, she began a romance with Andrew Cuomo, years before he followed in his father Mario Cuomo’s footsteps to became Governor Of New York.
Their relationship fell apart in 2019, before his controversial Covid leadership and his eventual resignation amid a blizzard of sex scandals.
She reportedly first met Ben at a Santa Monica restaurant in March 2021 – and by August of that year, engagement rumors were in the air.
‘I think she needed someone completely different from Andrew,’ one of Sandra’s close friends explained to People magazine.
She reportedly first met Ben at a Santa Monica restaurant in March 2021 – and by August of that year, engagement rumors were in the air; pictured with him last month
Sandra was locking lips with her longtime paramour in all of the pictures, leaving no doubt as to her irrepressible passion for him
‘Best birthday gift ever was Ben! Thank you for chasing me up the street and not taking NO NO NO for an answer!’ she crowed in her caption
‘You were right! Thank you God for such wonderful man to get to kiss,’ she wrote, showering praise on the Algerian actor
Ahead of her birthday celebrations this Wednesday, she added that she was ‘so grateful for my love!! Happy Everything for Everyone! Sandy xoxo’
A little over a year and a half ago, Sandra revealed that she and Ben are so close-knit that ‘We have each other’s passwords on our phone’
She gushed: ‘We trust each other completely,’ adding: ‘There’s no question that we can’t ask each other and the other one won’t be completely forthcoming,’ per E! News
‘It took her two years for her to even consider dating again as she wanted to be sure she could make herself happy and to heal before she brought someone in her life.’
Ben has appeared in such projects as the Steven Spielberg film Munich, as well as such series as Law & Order, NCIS: Los Angeles and Chicago PD.
After he and Sandra became an item, a source observed: ‘He seems to be a good match as he has a deep understanding of all of Sandra’s worlds from her professional life to her dedicated focus on family and commitment to philanthropy.’
Ben has previously been married, but he and his wife separated in 2019 and the couple ultimately filed for divorce the following year.
He and Sandra are apparently known as ‘Bendra’ to their friends,’ and an insider has gushed: ‘They’re inseparable. It’s almost like a first love for both of them.’
