Despite the backlash, Rachael Ray doesn’t regret her decision not to have children.

The 56-year-old cook recalled on Tuesday’s episode of his show that he was “beaten up for (his choice) for decades.” “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead” podcast.

Ray, who has been married to husband John M. Cusimano since September 2005, talked about her role as a dog mom instead.

The “Rachael Ray Show” host called her pets “rays of light” in “dark days.”

He said: “For me, if I’m having the worst day or I’m sick as a dog – so to speak – the thing that makes me feel best is going home and literally crawling into bed under a blanket with my hands around the dog.”

Ray praised the animals for “never talking back” and “always wanting to hug you.”

The businesswoman added: “Owning a pet makes you a better person. … I don’t understand people who don’t like having a pet in their lives.

“Because it makes you happier and better,” he continued. “And no matter what happens, you always have that love in your life.”

Ray briefly touched on the loss of his and Cusimano’s dogs, Isaboo and Boo, before adopting their current dog, Bella.

“They were our everything and they both lived such a long life,” he said.

In 2007, the cookbook author revealed to People that she didn’t have “time” to host children because she was “working too much to be a proper parent.”

She admitted: “Some days I feel like a bad mother to my dog ​​because I’m not here enough. “I literally feel like I would be doing a bad job right now if I took the time to give birth to a child and try to balance everything I do.”

As for whether Ray feels she’s missing out by not being a mother? he told the Wall Street Journal In 2009, he said he didn’t “really” feel that way.

He has worked with children for years, calling them his “focal point” in a 2008 study. New York Times interview.

Ray and Cusimano, 57, have been together since 2001, when they met at a mutual friend’s birthday party.