Food Network is the kind of TV you can just turn on and watch all day. It's got such a wide range of shows, it's not surprising that the network regularly ranks so highly in viewership. Among its many entertaining programs is Ten Dollar Dinners, hosted by Food Network Star season five winner Melissa d'Arabian.
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00:00Food Network has produced some incredible shows, including $10 Dinners, which features
00:05Melissa D'Arabian. D'Arabian famously won the fifth season of Food Network Star, going
00:11on to success as a TV host and cookbook author. But she's had some tough times, too. Here's
00:17what you may not know.
00:19$10 Dinners is a fairly straightforward concept for a cooking show, providing viewers with
00:24meal ideas for families that wouldn't exceed a $10 budget, with a focus on keeping the
00:28meals both healthy and budget-friendly. One detail that wasn't always made public, however,
00:34is D'Arabian's background, and her very real experience inspired her to help families needing
00:39cheap, healthy food options.
00:42According to an interview D'Arabian did with HuffPost, the Food Network Star's mother was
00:46a single mom pursuing medical school during her childhood. Growing up in Tucson, Arizona,
00:53D'Arabian learned early on that even something simple like putting food on the table for
00:57your children can be difficult and sometimes altogether impossible for people facing economic
01:02hardship. According to her, she often came to grade school without any lunch or money
01:07to buy lunch, relying on a payback system at the school and consequently racking up
01:12IOUs.
01:13Unfortunately, even the cost of the lunches, apparently just 45 cents at the time, was
01:19too much for D'Arabian's mom, and the young girl often had to find new options for daily
01:24meals.
01:25I think that school cafeteria can tell you a lot about where you stand in the social
01:29pecking order, and that's where I realized that I was poor."
01:32Thankfully, D'Arabian found a hero in an unlikely place. When a kind receptionist noticed D'Arabian's
01:38situation, she set up a way for the young student to earn her lunch. She could help
01:42serve food to the other kids in exchange for a free lunch. This, D'Arabian told HuffPost,
01:48had a, quote, huge impact on where her life was headed.
01:51D'Arabian didn't realize it then, but this one-kind gesture made by a school faculty
01:56member would stay with her well into her adult life, and would even serve as part of her
02:02inspiration for her future career. In an interview with Coronado Eagle & Journal, D'Arabian stressed
02:07how much better she did in school on a full stomach, and added,
02:11"...I am thankful for the people who reached out to me, shared life through food, and found
02:16the compassion to put me in a school lunch program."
02:19Being raised by a single mother and having the help of the benevolent receptionist imparted
02:24on D'Arabian a desire to go on to make a difference in the lives of other women. As she shared
02:29with HuffPost,
02:30"...my girlfriends were my family. We were each other's support. I love women, and I'll
02:35always try to help any woman achieve her goals."
02:39As easy as Melissa D'Arabian may make life seem on her cooking show now, her past is
02:44full of obstacles she's had to overcome. In an interview with Parade, Melissa revealed
02:49that when she was just 20, she called home to ask her mom for her credit card number,
02:54but was instead greeted by an officer who informed her of her mom's death. Her mother
02:59had taken her own life, and Melissa was left to fend for herself in her 20s. As she explained
03:05to Parade, this sudden tragedy made life in her 20s, quote, a mess.
03:10"...sometimes the only way out is through. And I know that even the biggest tragedies
03:16have their gifts in them."
03:18Though this tragic event played a big part in who D'Arabian is today, she also told Parade
03:23that she's learned to cope, and her anger at her mother eventually turned into, quote,
03:27an imperfect understanding. While it's a painful memory, the TV star acknowledged that she
03:33feels she wouldn't be the wife and mother she is now without having gone through all
03:38the turmoil and struggle that came during that period of her life.
03:43If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide
03:47Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK. That's 1-800-273-8255.
04:00While D'Arabian and her mother may have struggled financially during her younger years, the
04:04$10 Dinners host actually went on to land a successful job working in finance and strategy
04:10for the Walt Disney Company in France. But when she and her husband, Philippe, started
04:15a family, she gave up that particular career, despite earning more than her spouse did at
04:19the time. And of course, we know she later focused on $10 Dinners after winning the Next
04:24Food Network Star Cooking competition in 2009.
04:28It turns out Philippe does hold a high-ranking position at Microsoft, so we can assume he's
04:34probably making pretty decent money, even with his wife's career in mind. Plus, as noted
04:39on Melissa D'Arabian's Food Network bio, her family lives outside San Diego, a pretty expensive
04:44area to own a house. The success of the duo has led some to question whether D'Arabian
04:49is in any position to tell other people how to cook on a budget, but the Food Network
04:53star has a response to that.
04:55In the face of criticism that she no longer needs to budget her meals because she has
04:59a husband supporting her, she joked to HuffPost,
05:02"...the idea of some wealthy husband bankrolling anything I do is really, well, kind of a joke.
05:08My husband and I have laughed over what we've read about me, that I'm a trophy wife."
05:13D'Arabian is not often outspoken about her sobriety, but occasionally something pops
05:18up and she will make a comment that sheds some light on her own recovery. For instance,
05:22in a January 2021 Twitter thread, she discussed her choice to remain sober, and noted that
05:28while she feels she's very open about her sobriety, quote,
05:31"...lots of folks don't know about that part of her life."
05:35The topic arose after The Bachelorette star Tayshia Adams ultimately chose to be with
05:40contestant Zach Clark, who is sober. After watching the show, D'Arabian voiced some of
05:45the concerns she had before getting sober herself, and admitted that she'd wondered
05:49things like how it would affect her eventual wedding, and how she'd celebrate without alcohol.
05:54Though she hasn't spoken on why she made the decision to be sober, and she doesn't claim
05:58that it's the right choice for everyone, she has now been sober for more than 22 years.
06:04After two decades without a drink, the Food Network star called her sober life, quote,
06:08"...awesome."