Vanna White Tells Drew Barrymore She Doesn’t Cook: ‘Why Should I?’
Wheel of Fortune co-host Vanna White has revealed she doesn’t cook for her family. But as luck would have it, she has her own professional chef at home…her son, Nikko Santo Pietro!
White and her son appeared on The Drew Barrymore Show on Thursday (March 20), where Nikko prepared a fire-roasted salsa for them all to enjoy. When Drew Barrymore asked the legendary letter-turner if she also cooks, she replied, “No… why should I?”
Speaking about her son’s cooking skills, White added, “Seriously, everything he cooks is so good. Everything! Chicken to fish to salsa.”
White noted that Nikko learned from his dad, her ex-husband, George Santo Pietro, who owned the famous restaurant Santopietro’s in Los Angeles, which was a celebrity hot spot back in the 1980s.
“Your dad owned a restaurant that I used to frequent,” Barrymore told Pietro. “That was like THE place. Everybody loved it… they would clamor to get in.”
“It was a hot spot in LA at the time, for sure,” Nikko replied.
White and George were married from 1990 until 2002 and share two children, a son, Nikko, and a daughter, Giovanna “Gigi” Santo Pietro, a tattoo artist who recently gave White her first inking.
“He’s been in the kitchen his whole life,” White said of her son. “His dad was an amazing cook, so he learned from his dad, and he’s had it for 30 years now.”
In December, White surprised her fans by sharing an Instagram video with Nikko, where they celebrated Fabulous Food Week by whipping up Uncle Roy’s Chicken. White’s followers jumped into the comments, but Nikko was the focus of their attention rather than the food.
“Is son on the menu too 👀 errr I mean great video!!” quipped one commenter.
“Vanna, your son is so handsome! I love the connection you have together,” said another.
“Wow, he is beautiful,” another added.
Another joked, “What’s his @?? Asking for a friend.”
“Vanna, you and your son are truly beautiful..!!!” said one user.
One fan quipped, “I didn’t even finish the video and I just knew the comments were going to be people commenting about her gorgeous son.”
While helping her son prepare the salsa, White told Barrymore she’s worn “over 8,000 gowns” during her 42 years on Wheel. However, when she’s at home, she prefers to lounge in her “PJs,” noting, “Because we get dressed up to work. That’s the last thing we wanna do when we’re at home.”
As for whether she gets to keep the gowns from Wheel of Fortune, White said she doesn’t “but they do let me borrow them for [events]. The Emmys or whatever… Every day a different dress for all of these years. 42 years.”
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