'Pioneer Woman' Ree Drummond Admits She's Still Reeling From Family Tragedy
Oct. 23 2019, Updated 1:50 p.m. ET
The Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond admitted in her new cookbook that she is still reeling from a family tragedy that occurred over a year ago, RadarOnline.com exclusively learned.
In her much-anticipated The Pioneer Woman Cooks The New Frontier: 112 Fantastic Favorites for Everyday Eating, Drummond reflected on the somber passing of her mother-in-law.
“She was a grandmother, mother, mother-in-law, and good friend,” the TV chef wrote.
In a shocking confession, the Food Network star admitted that while she loves testing new recipes, it’s just as important to keep up long-standing dishes that are “familiar and unaltered.”
She said she especially learned to honor tradition after her husband Ladd’s mother, Nan, died.
“Her death was a new territory our family wasn’t prepared for, and we have learned to cling to memories and traditions, both in and out of the kitchen,” she wrote, adding her death has been a “difficult adjustment for all of us.”
As RadarOnline.com readers know, Nan passed away on May 24, 2018 at the age of 74. She lived in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, where Ree currently is raising her family. At the time, Drummond mourned her mother-in-law’s passing on her famed blog.
“It’s a difficult loss for our family, as she was such a rock for all of us,” Drummond said at the time. “We all had some time to prepare for this, thought I’ve found over the course of the past few days that nothing really prepares you for losing someone who is so much a part of the fabric of your family’s daily life.”
Also in the book, Drummond stressed how much has changed around her and Ladd’s ranch now that her two oldest children have fled their Oklahoma home. Her oldest, Alex, accepted a job in Texas after graduating college. Meanwhile, Paige is currently enrolled at the University of Arkansas.
“There is very little idle talk around the dinner table about the varied topics my girls and I used to fill the air with; nowadays, it’s all boy, all sports, all stats, all dirty clothes, all the time,” Drummond joked.
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The TV personality’s cookbook hits shelves October 22.
