Giada De Laurentiis For Page Six Magazine

Giada de Laurentiis graces the cover of Page Six Magazine this week. Known best for being the seductive chef behind Food Network’s Everyday Italian and author of two New York Times best-selling cookbooks, Giada talked about her childhood in Italy, success as a renowned chef, her favorite food spot in Manhattan, and happiness as a wife and mother. 

Giada admits she doesn’t wear the highest of necklines on her show, but denies an intentional sex appeal approach:

“Porn? I’m not doing porn! What the hell are people talking about? [It’s not] PBS-style cooking. I mean, I love Lidia [Bastianich], but [she’s] kind of boring.  And Mario Batali [I] love to death…but he’s not romantic or sensual.  Those are the things I bring to the table.”

Everyday Italian is now on a break, but that only means Giada found a plethora of other projects to fill her plate.  Her new show, Giada at Home, a fourth cookbook, her dress-designing husband Todd, and Jade, her “peanut” of a daughter keep her more than occupied.

There was once a time where having children, or even marriage, didn’t seem to be on the menu. 

“I never cared about marriage.  I was more worried about working, and really didn’t think I’d have kids.  Then Todd turned 40 and I guess he thought to himself, ‘I think I’d like to marry Giada.’”

Giada hopes to instill an appreciation for her home country in her daughter, by singing her the Italian lullabies that were once sang to her as a child.  Her husband has other plans to throw into the family pot. 

“He will always tell the story of how his grandmother would take him to McDonald’s and Burger King.  And he says, ‘I can’t wait to take Jade.’”

For more on Giada de Laurentiis, check out this week’s issue of Page Six Magazine, free inside the Sunday edition of the New York Post and online on Monday at www.pagesixmag.com.