Giada De Laurentiis Left Food Network For A Super Relatable Reason

After 21 years as the network's darling, prolific chef and cooking show host Giada De Laurentiis left the Food Network for Amazon Studios in 2023. She announced the news in a sunny Instagram post, writing in the caption, "Big week! Super excited for what's to come!" Now, more than a year later, she's finally opened up about what pushed her to leave her longtime gig to pursue new ventures.

"I think it's because I got burnt out," De Laurentiis said in her April 23 episode of Rebecca Minkoff's podcast Superwomen, adding, "I really worked so hard for so long. I got burnt out and I couldn't see a path that was exciting anymore." In this day and age of non-stop hustle culture, who can't relate? "I need excitement," De Laurentiis continued. "I get bored, and if I'm getting bored, my viewers are getting bored."

Although her fans at home weren't privy to this reality, De Laurentiis said she felt some trepidation about making the change. Not only was she navigating motherhood and divorce, but she was also acutely aware that abandoning her post as TV royalty (just check out some of her best Food Network moments for reference) was a gamble. "It took a while for me to make this decision, because I was very fearful of leaving the Food Network," she lamented on the podcast. "Because when you're a big fish in that pond and then you get out, who knows what's gonna' happen next? But I really started to become interested in the entrepreneurial sort of journey, and I realized I couldn't do both."

Throughout her career, Giada De Laurentiis has always exhibited an entrepreneurial spirit, but she knew that if she wanted to achieve her aspirations, things couldn't stay the same forever. Ultimately, she decided to invest her time and effort into launching Giadzy, a lifestyle brand centered around her love of Italian cooking. A one-stop shop for all things Giada, Giadzy contains all of her recipes, tutorials, travel tips, and shopping suggestions. "For me, creating Giadzy was a necessity, because being on the Food Network for over 20 years, they had all my recipes and content from my shows," she told Forbes in March 2023.

"I'll still do TV," De Laurentiis explained to Rebecca Minkoff on Superwomen, adding, "I have a deal with Amazon, so I still do a little bit of that, but it's definitely not the schedule I used to keep." She pointed out that the difficulty of being a woman and aging in the public eye also played a role in her decision. "For me, I was like, if I don't do as much of it, maybe I will feel a little bit better about myself and the aging process," she reflected on the podcast, adding, "I feel like we've come into a world where people want to watch people be more organic rather than so edited, and I was so edited for so long ... that I feel like it's time for me to be me."