The Real Reason Rachael Ray Has Such A Unique Voice

Rachael Ray is a Daytime Emmy Award-winning (super-rich) celebrity chef who's known for the yummy food she teaches viewers how to make on shows like 30 Minute Meals and her self-titled talk show, Rachael Ray. She's also known for her perky personality, her stunning transformation over the years, and her somewhat strange marriage. And then there's her unique voice, which, it turns out, isn't natural, but is, instead, the result of health issues.

"You've probably noticed that Rachael Ray has a unique, raspy voice. She wasn't born with that voice; in fact, it is actually the result of her having croup as a child," The Recipe explains. Apparently, "croup is a voice box viral infection that can bring about coughing fits that can do permanent damage to one's throat."

While that sounds bad enough, Ray reportedly suffered from an "extraordinarily bad case of the virus," which left her with the raspy voice that fans surely recognize today. And it didn't help that her career got in the way of possibly changing things up when she faced another throat-related problem years later.

While Rachael Ray's raspy voice is the result of suffering from croup as a child, she also dealt with a health issue as an adult that might have altered the way she speaks — the keyword there being might. However, it ended up doing nothing to change "her trademark vocal vigor," according to ABC News, due to the fact that her job didn't allow her time to heal.

"I have had a husky voice my entire life and I always thought it was from too much talking," Ray wrote in a 2008 blog post on her website. "I finally found a brilliant throat specialist who discovered the real cause of my vocal problems." Because of a "benign" bump on her vocal cord, the celeb chef had to undergo minor surgery in July 2009.

Ray initially tried vocal therapy since her "doctors felt that with some vocal coaching ... they could reduce the size of the cyst and have it eventually disappear." While the TV host "learned techniques on how to use her voice differently," surgery was still necessary since Ray was unable to take a break from speaking — which was needed in order to shrink the cyst — because of her filming schedule. "You can rest your voice and things will get better," Dr. Milan Amin, director of the New York University Voice Center, told ABC News. "But as soon as you go back to what you were doing, within short order, you'll go back to what you were."

By September 2009, Ray's vocal cords were reportedly "on the mend."