Sandra Lee Was ‘Terrified’ to Start New Relationship With Ben Youcef After Bad Andrew Cuomo Breakup

Sandra Lee wasn’t looking for love when boyfriend Ben Youcef came along. In fact, she was “terrified” of starting a new relationship after her split from Andrew Cuomo in 2019.

“Meeting Ben was incredible,” Lee, 58, exclusively shares in her Us Weekly cover story . “It was the perfect intersection of timing and chemistry.”

The pair met during a chance encounter at a restaurant, which led Youcef, 45, to ask Lee out “for a walk.” The pair initially decided to take things slow.

“I hadn’t been intimate in years and years,” she tells Us . “I literally felt like a virgin at 55, and I just didn’t want to get involved again.”

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The couple shared their first kiss after dating for two months.

“He finally kissed me, and I stood there stone-still,” Lee recalls. “He kept his lips on mine, and my mind just went blank. I still didn’t kiss him back.”

After locking lips, Lee felt like she needed to apologize — but Youcef stayed unbothered.

“He waited and persisted, and here we are,” she gushes. “My chemistry with Ben is something that I’ve never had before. It’s mental, it’s emotional, and it’s a connection that I can’t even describe.”

Lee adds: “When he kisses me, my mind goes blank. It’s the only time I can meditate, which is why I love kissing him.”

Before meeting Youcef, the former Food Network star was the longtime partner of former New York Governor Cuomo, 66. They split in 2019 after more than a decade together, and Lee tells Us that there was one comment that sealed the deal about the breakup.

“I was in my kitchen and he said something, and the minute he said it, I knew what he’d just said. And every window and door closed. And that was it,” she shares, not going into specifics. “He knows what it is; I know what it is.”

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Cuomo, however, told Us that he did not see Lee during this time period.

“Governor Cuomo has always been totally supportive of Sandra through good times and bad. She partnered with him, spent time with [his] girls, and handled functions as first lady very well," a spokesperson for Cuomo shares in a statement."Sandra and the Governor had separate and busy lives and grew apart over time. Breakups are always difficult and there are always two sides of the story, but the Governor chooses to focus on the positive and he wishes her nothing but success and happiness in the years ahead.”

For Lee, there are obvious differences between Cuomo and Youcef.

“Ben is very patient, and he’s very transparent,” she says. “He checks in all the time, and shares everything with me. He loves helping people without agenda or motive. He truly tries to be a better human every day.”

For more on Sandra Lee, watch the exclusive video above and pick up the latest issue of Us Weekly — on newsstands now.

With reporting by Amanda Williams