The Tragic, Real-Life Story Of Guy Fieri

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Guy Fieri has created a restaurant empire that stretches from the United States to the United Arab Emirates and South Africa, and his television career has been strong, with the Emmy-nominated “Diners, Drive Ins & Dives” and “Tournament of Champions,” to name but two of his presenting roles.

He’s also a best-selling author, with cookbooks including “Guy on Fire: 130 Recipes for Adventures in Outdoor Cooking,” and “Guy Fieri Family Food” boosting his popularity — and despite all that, he’s a devoted husband and dad. But behind the larger-than-life personality is someone who has been dealt plenty of personal and professional blows over the years.

From brushes with death and losing those closest to him, to public legal battles and being targeted by a globe-trotting celebrity chef: The spiky-haired star has faced it all and lived to cook another day. This is the tragic, real-life story of Guy Fieri.

Read more: 11 Celebrity Chefs And The Foods They Hate

Trampled By A Horse At Age 10

At the age of 10, when his parents were backpacking in Europe, Guy Fieri was preparing his horse for a show. While galloping in a circle, he told In Depth with Graham Bensinger: “The horse trips, I think he goes down, and I fall off. I roll over the shoulder and fall and his next step was on me.”

He was rushed to the hospital and Fieri said: “I was bleeding out inside, and they didn’t know why but they couldn’t go and check because nobody had permission.” A hastily obtained court order allowed doctors to operate, where they discovered a ligament had been torn from his liver.

A couple years later, when he decided he wanted to be a rodeo star, Fieri gave it a shot at a friend’s ranch. He told Bensinger the attempt ended quickly after the young bull he was riding was bitten by an over-excited dog. Fieri ended up with a broken wrist, a kick in the head from the bull, and a split lip for his trouble.

A Teenage Wake-Up Call

When asked by Graham Bensinger about being 19, the TV chef wryly remarked that it had been a busy year, but one particular episode had brought home a hard truth: “There’s death involved in this if you don’t pay attention.” Guy Fieri was talking about a pivotal car accident.

He told Brooke Shields on her “Now What?” podcast, about how he and a group of friends were in Las Vegas and the driver of their car took flight after seeing a cop. A chase ended in the vehicle flipping — killing the passenger next to Fieri. “I woke up in the hospital handcuffed to the gurney, with everyone in that car saying I was the one who was driving,” he said.

Fieri explained why the stark reality of having to tell his parents what had happened, of being arrested in his dorm room — even though the police knew he was innocent — as well as a stern warning from his father to grow up, all helped put an end to his wild ways. He told Shields that it’s important to be in control of your environment.

An Audacious Car Theft

In a 2021 episode of “Jay Leno’s Garage,” Guy Fieri showed the chat show legend around the 1891-built barn, housing his collection of classic and muscle cars. One vehicle that wasn’t among them was a yellow, 2008 Lamborghini Gallardo convertible.

In 2011, while Fieri was in Chicago shooting an episode of “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” 17-year-old Max Wade drove the $200,000 supercar out of a San Francisco garage. Almost his every move was caught on camera, as seen in a report by the ABC7 News I-Team. For a year, Wade evaded police, and Fieri was often told people had spotted his Lamborghini in the wild.

Wade was finally caught after he shot at a 17-year-old girl and his former schoolmate. During the trial, Fieri simply said “no” when asked if he had given the teenager permission to take or drive his car, and later told ABC7 News: “I just wanted to keep it straight and to the point.” In July 2024, Wade was granted parole.

Losing His Sister To Cancer

“That was the worst thing to ever be around,” Guy Fieri admitted to Graham Bensinger, when asked about his sister Morgan, who died in 2011. She was 38 when doctors diagnosed her with melanoma, more than 30 years after she beat cancer as a four-year-old.

“To think of her leaving Jules, my nephew, was horrific,” Fieri said, adding that Morgan’s illness and its dietary restrictions gave him a chance to support her: “I really spent a lot of time trying to cook the right way for her.” Fieri talked about his sister’s determination to carry on, even though she knew her time was ending. “This woman was just steadfast, stuck to it and held on. It was just … it was pretty amazing.”

After Morgan passed, she lay in mourning in the living room for two days, surrounded by flowers. Fieri told Bensinger it was: “The most beautiful, amazing, most dignified thing I could ever imagine happening to somebody. It changed my whole way of looking at death.” He later dedicated the cookbook, “Guy Fieri Food: Cookin’ It, Livin’ It, Lovin’ It,” to her.

Custody Battle For His Nephew

The death of Guy Fieri’s sister wasn’t just an emotional blow for him and his parents, there was her son, Jules, to consider. His biological father, Dain Pape, was absent from his life, according to Fieri, so the family decided he should live with Guy and Morgan’s parents. Their plan hit a major roadblock when a California judge ruled that Pape should have custody.

The exchange never happened. Fieri had taken Jules on an out-of-town trip when he should have been handed to Pape, and within the same year that Morgan died, the TV star and his wife Lori were named the boy’s legal guardians.

Fieri admitted that, although the youngster acted out a little during his high school years, and initially the two weren’t very close, everything worked out all right in the end. “In my opinion, Jules is my son, I mean that’s as close as I can say it,” he told Graham Bensinger.

The Death Of His Dad

Guy Fieri’s dad Jim was his hero. His influence was everywhere during his childhood, from making him build a cart to sell pretzels as a child, to giving him the confidence to try anything he wanted. “I really believe that if my dad said, ‘Well, you know if you really think you can fly, let’s go give it a shot’,” Fieri said to Graham Bensinger.

Jim Ferry passed away in January 2024 aged 81, after battling pancreatic cancer for six years. Fieri said the fear of losing his father had intensified, especially after Morgan’s death. When his dad finally told him the cancer had returned and he didn’t want any treatment, his impending death hit the chef hard.

Two days later, a spiritual medium friend told him his father was worried about his isolated grieving process. Fieri drew comfort from that otherworldly connection, and a few months later he posted a video on Instagram, after a friend’s daughter asked him to be her godfather: “Kind of a tough day for me, first Father’s Day without my dad Jim, but even when you’re having a tough day some little miracles happen in the world.”

The Death Of A Close Friend

Family members haven’t been the only loved ones Guy Fieri has had to say goodbye to. In 2019, 44-year-old chef Carl ‘The Cuban’ Ruiz, who appeared in “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives,” “Guy’s Grocery Games,” and “Guy’s Ranch Kitchen,” died in his sleep.

Fieri took to X to express his grief, posting: “Over the years, I’ve met a lot of great people but a friend like Carl is one in a hundred million. Carl ‘The Cuban’ Ruiz will forever live on in my heart and in those of all who loved him.” Life threw Fieri another curve ball in 2023 when former Smash Mouth singer Steve Harwell, passed away at the age of 56.

The star, who had battled several illnesses as well as alcohol abuse for many years, died of acute liver failure. In response to the news, Fieri posted a brief, touching tribute on Instagram: “To my brutha Steve. RIP. Today is a sad day, I will miss my friend.” Fieri was among the contributors to Harwell’s “Recipes from the Road: A Cookbook.”

Scathing New York Times Review

In 2012, a zero-star review of Manhattan eatery Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar by Pete Wells was published in The New York Times. It began: “Guy Fieri, have you eaten at your new restaurant in Times Square? Have you pulled up one of the 500 seats at Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar and ordered a meal? Did you eat the food? Did it live up to your expectations?”

Wells’ article asked a lot more questions about Fieri’s restaurant, painting such an unflattering picture that his Food Network colleague Robert Irvine defended the chef, telling Parade: “Okay, but for every snooty critic, there’s a dad, grandma, kid, biker, dentist, or garbageman who’ll tell you Guy’s the man.”

In a 2015 interview with Drew Magary for GQ, Fieri said: “He could’ve made such a great comment. But he dropped down to third grade and said every mean, vile thing that he could say and discredited himself.” The TV star then claimed Wells planned in advance to give a zero-star review, which the journalist denied. In an email to Magary, published in the GQ article, Wells wrote: “The Times doesn’t work that way, and I don’t work that way.”

David Page Sues The Food Network

In 2011, while his sister was battling cancer, Guy Fieri faced trouble on the work front too. David Page, the producer of “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives,” sued The Food Network, claiming the broadcaster was trying to oust him and had blocked him from working with Fieri.

The Food Network hit back with a $1.5 million lawsuit against Page Television and Video Productions. It alleged that, alongside breaches of contract, Page had to be replaced because of the hostile work environment he had created. According to The Hollywood Reporter, emails to staff from Page read: “Lets assume I’m a genius from now on … lets all assume I know what the f*** I’m doing … this is no longer a democracy.” The legal row was settled in August 2011.

Looking back four years later, Fieri was asked by GQ if he feared for his reputation. He replied: “Oh, god, no. It was so fabricated that I didn’t even really address it. People called and asked me about it, and I said, ‘I can’t tell you anything other than it’s bulls***.'”

Accused Of Homophobia

Just as the legal fight between The Food Network and David Page was coming to an end, the former “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives” producer took another opportunity to drag Guy Fieri’s name through the mud. Page told City Pages, noted by the Huffpost that the TV star “needed protection from homosexuals, or at least advance warning.”

Page claimed that, after visiting a restaurant run by a gay couple, Fieri allegedly told him: “Those people weird me out!” A spokesperson for Fieri said in a statement: “He would never make the kind of comments attributed to him in this story, and anyone who knows or has even met him knows that.”

City Pages published a second article, in which Kari Kloster, a former “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives” producer, appeared to corroborate Page’s story. “From my memory of being a field producer it’s just well-known to me among the crew that Guy has a problem — if there was a homosexual in a restaurant, as the main character, the shoot went different,” she said. In 2015, Fieri officiated at an event in which 101 same-sex couples tied the knot.

Relentlessly Targeted By Anthony Bourdain

With his trademark hair and passion for perfect burgers and barbecues, Guy Fieri is beloved by both fans and colleagues. But not everyone has been won over by his brand of charm. Chef and TV star Anthony Bourdain was a repeatedly vocal critic of The Food Network star.

In 2011 he told TV Guide: “You work that hard and there’s not a single show of yours that you’d want to sit down and say, ‘Hey, I made that last week. Look at that camera work. It’s really good, huh?'” The next year, Bourdain ranted about the prices at Guy’s American Kitchen and Bar in New York (the NYT zero-star rated eatery) while appearing on the “Opie & Anthony” Siriux FM show.

Fieri hit back in 2012 when he joined several stars to roast Bourdain, even making a crack about the latter’s drug addiction. In 2015, he told GQ: “I know he’s definitely gotta have issues, ‘cos the average person doesn’t behave that way … You have nothing else to f***ing worry about than if I have bleached hair or not?” Fieri did not publicly comment on Bourdain’s death in 2018.

An Ugly Fist Fight With His Hairdresser

The 2010s had been tough for Guy Fieri, with plenty of unwanted publicity — but there was no let up for the mayor of Flavortown. In 2013, tabloid website TMZ published footage of Fieri and his visibly upset hairdresser, Ariel Ramirez, going toe-to-toe in a physical confrontation.

In the grainy video, which lasts around 20 seconds, Ramirez appears to shove and punch Fieri — who was inside a black SUV — several times, while tearfully shouting expletives and insults at the TV chef, before Fieri eventually slams the door.

TMZ said the brawl happened after the duo landed at San Francisco International Airport, following a boozy flight. The reason behind the fight was unclear, but TMZ quoted an unnamed source who said: “It was just dudes being dudes.” A spokesperson for Fieri later said: “A bunch of guys were messing around. Things got a little out of hand, but they’re all good now.”

Shutting Down Johnny Garlic’s

Nine years after Johnny Garlic’s launched in 1996, Guy Fieri decided to pull the plug on what was his first restaurant. However, co-founder Steve Gruber wanted to keep the eight outlet-strong franchise going, setting the stage for yet another legal battle.

Gruber offered to buy Fieri’s shares in the business, but when they couldn’t agree on a price, Gruber asked the court to prevent the restaurants from closing until a deal could be reached. A representative for the TV star said in a statement: “After more than 20 successful years as a partner in Johnny Garlic’s Inc., Guy Fieri has chosen to separate from the company and its restaurants for creative and operational considerations. Guy wishes the entire Johnny Garlic’s Inc. team the best.”

In 2016, Gruber became the sole owner of the company, including the Tex Wasabi’s restaurant in Santa Rosa. A few years later, Johnny Garlic’s and Tex Wasabi closed. According to Vice, Gruber said to The Press Democrat: “We stuck it out as long as we could.”

American Bar & Grill Slammed By Inspectors

After that damning 2012 zero-star review of Guy Fieri’s American Bar & Grill in New York’s Times Square, and Anthony Bourdain’s acidic comments, you’d think the restaurant would be the tightest of ships. Unfortunately, the NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene didn’t have much good to say about it either.

According to Radar Online, a 2016 inspection detailed a long list of flies found in the eatery’s food and non-food sections, including blow flies and flesh flies. The report also noted that some of the restaurant’s staff did not use the right utensils and therefore could not “eliminate bare hand contact with food.”

The previous year, live cockroaches had been reported in the restaurant, and inspectors also noted that staff hygiene levels were not up to standard. Radar Online wrote: “Personal cleanliness inadequate. Outer garment soiled with possible contaminant. Effective hair restraint not worn in an area where food is prepared.”

Tennessee Restaurant Staff Sue

In March of 2022, Guy Fieri cut the ribbon on Downtown Flavortown in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. The 43,000 square foot complex has a bowling alley and arcade games, as well as a vast restaurant, serving up Fieri’s signature Trash Can Nachos and Bacon Mac and Cheeseburger.

That same year, the owners of Downton Flavortown, FACE Amusement, were hit with a wrongful dismissal lawsuit from a former employee. In it, the woman claimed she had been forced to alter staff timecards — violating the Fair Labor Standards Act — and was fired after reporting incidents of harassment by a FACE Amusement executive.

FACE Amusement said in a statement to wate.com: “FACE denies the allegations in the complaint and is confident that it will ultimately be vindicated in the matter.” Wate 6 reported in 2023 that the lawsuit, which appears to be ongoing, sought a jury trial, as well as financial damages.

Wine Tasting Room Plans Scuppered By Locals

Despite Guy Fieri’s success on TV and in the restaurant trade, he was always looking for other challenges. He told David Savona in an interview for Wine Spectator, that making wine was one of his ambitions after he found fame with The Food Network.

“I went and bought a property that had seven acres of phenomenal pinot on it,” he said. Thus the Hunt & Ryde brand — named after his sons Hunter and Ryder — was launched in Sonoma County, Northern California. Shortly after, Fieri decided he wanted to add a wine-tasting room to his business portfolio, but quickly ran into stiff opposition.

The county zoning board imposed 76 conditions and more than 100 people attended a public hearing to complain about the proposal. GQ reported some of the objections, including that of neighbor Toni Kovatch-Mercer, who said: “Guests would be loud, leave trash, and trample landscaping.” Fieri had no choice but to abandon his plans.

Read the original article on Foodie.