Sandra Lee and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo may no longer be a couple, but they continue to support each other.
Lee, a former Food Network star who has written 25 cookbooks, told The New York Times that even though she is currently quarantined in Los Angeles, she watches Cuomo's daily briefings about the novel coronavirus pandemic, and is in touch with the governor nearly every day.
The two were a couple for more than a decade before they announced their split in 2019, though Lee told the newspaper that "neither one of us, well as far as I know, has had a date," and "he's still my guy."
MORE: The coronavirus crisis is the moment Andrew Cuomo has prepared for all his life“We share a home, we share children, we share friendship,” Lee said of Cuomo. “I will protect him and be there for him until the day I die.”
Cuomo, 62, and Lee, 53, began dating in 2005, one year before he was elected New York attorney general. He became the governor of New York in 2010, and Lee, the state's unofficial first lady, though they rarely discussed their relationship in interviews. However, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015, he was by her side, even appearing in her HBO documentary, "RX: Early Detection — A Cancer Journey with Sandra Lee."
"This is a tool for people who have gone through it, who have it or who will have it," Lee told "Good Morning America" of her 2018 film. "And it’s a tool for their family to know how to take care of and deal with and understand."
Last year, amid reports that Lee and Cuomo had sold their suburban New York mansion, Lily Pond, because of a looming break-up, the TV personality explained that they just didn't need such a big home. Their split announcement came in September.
"Over the recent past, we have realized that our lives have gone in different directions and our romantic relationship has turned into a deep friendship," their joint statement at the time read. "We will always be family and are fully supportive of each other and dedicated to the girls. Our personal lives remain personal and there will be no further comment."
The two do not have children together; Cuomo has three adult daughters from his marriage to Kerry Kennedy.
