Sandra Lee Splits From Fiance Ben Youcef, Ending 5-Year Romance

Sandra Lee is starting a new chapter — this time on her own.

The celebrity chef and lifestyle star has ended her engagement to actor and producer Ben Youcef, her representatives confirmed to People on Wednesday, April 22. The split closes the door on a nearly five-year romance.

The 59-year-old’s relationship with Youcef, 47, followed her split from former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo after 14 years together.

By her own admission, she had given up on the idea of finding love again. “I swore I would never fall again, trust again, love again or open myself up again,” she wrote on Instagram

According to the report, that changed when she crossed paths with Youcef at a Santa Monica restaurant during the height of Covid. What began as a casual friendship quickly turned into something deeper.

Lee made things Instagram official on Valentine’s Day in 2022, posting a collection of romantic photos with Youcef. The couple stepped out publicly together for the first time at the Elton John AIDS Foundation’s Oscar viewing party that March, per the outlet.

Over the next three years, Lee and Youcef appeared inseparable. In fact, after Youcef finalized his divorce from a previous marriage in November 2022 — he had separated from his ex-wife back in 2019 — the pair began looking toward their own future. Sources told the outlet, at the time, that wedding planning was on the horizon.

As Closer previously reported, in July 2024, Lee marked her 58th birthday with another affectionate social media tribute to Youcef. “Thank you for chasing me up the street and not taking NO NO NO for an answer! You were right! Thank you God for such wonderful man to get to kiss,” she wrote.

Details surrounding the split remain private. But the lifestyle mogul has weathered heartbreak before and come out the other side brighter. As she wrote on Instagram in 2022, “No matter where you are, how old you are or what has happened, you can welcome hope back into your life again.”