Celebrity chef Sandra Lee has officially moved out of the New York home she shared with Gov. Andrew Cuomo before they separated last year.
Lee, 54, was seen moving the last bits of furniture out of the four-bedroom Colonial style home in Mount Kisco in Westchester County on Monday to make way for its new owners after the residence was sold in October for $1.85million.
The former de facto First Lady of New York revealed on Instagram that moving out of the home, ironically located on Bittersweet Lane, was ‘one of the saddest days of my life.’
She purchased the home in 2008 and lovingly called it ‘Lily Pond’. She said she had fond memories in every room from living with Cuomo, 63, and his three daughters for some time in their 14-year relationship before they separated in September 2019.
‘Today will be one of the saddest days of my life. Today is the day that I do the final move out from Lily Pond. I love that house and I have a personal relationship with every single room of that home. I hope the new owners take care of it as well as I did and I will love it forever. #thehousethatbuiltme,’ she wrote on Instagram.
Celebrity chef Sandra Lee , 54, officially moved out of the Westchester County, New York home she shared with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo before they separated last year on Monday. She was seen moving pieces of furniture into a U-Haul truck in the snow
Bittersweet goodbye: Lee revealed on Instagram that moving out of the house located on Bittersweet Lane which she purchased back in 2008 was ‘one of the saddest days of my life’
‘Today will be one of the saddest days of my life. Today is the day that I do the final move out from Lily Pond. I love that house and I have a personal relationship with every single room of that home. I hope the new owners take care of it as well as I did and I will love it forever. #thehousethatbuiltme,’ she wrote on Instagram
Lee purchased the white colonial style home in 2008. The house went for sale in May 2019 for $2million and was sold in October 2020 for $1.85million
Lee and Cuomo were together for 14 years before they announced their split in September 2019. Lee then moved to California and snapped up a beachfront house in Malibu for $3.38million. Lee and Cuomo pictured together in April 2018
The sprawling 4,000 square-foot home features four bedrooms, three dining areas, a finished basement, a home gym and an oversized kitchen.
The house went for sale in May 2019 for $2million and was sold in October 2020 for $1.85million, according to Page Six.
In another Instagram post she shared an exterior view of the home and said ‘I walked around the outside of my beautiful home —I wanted to drink in every angle and remember the beautiful moments that were spent in every place.’
‘I stopped at the top of the hill where I planted one of six tree lines of evergreen trees and 200 daffodil bulbs – I just looked at the house, I prayed the next owners would be kind to it and love it as I did – I cried and cried,’ she added.
Lee said she did one last walk through of the house and said goodbye to every room and ‘thanked each for giving us love and shelter, a warm place to grow and a true home to be happy.’
Lee and her brother Gene Lee pictured carrying chairs and other pieces of furniture out of the Bittersweet Lane home on Monday
Lee and her helpers worked through snowy weather to carry the last bits of furniture out of the home and into a moving truck
The sprawling 4,000 square-foot home features four bedrooms, three dining areas, a finished basement, a home gym and an oversized kitchen
Lee opened up about her attachment to the house on Instagram saying she had memories in every single room from living with Cuomo, 64, and his three daughters for some time during their 14-year relationship
Lee said she did one last walk through of the house and said goodbye to every room and ‘thanked each for giving us love and shelter, a warm place to grow and a true home to be happy’
When the house hit the market rumors started to swirl that Cuomo and Lee had parted ways.
They initially denied rumors and instead pinned the downsizing on Cuomo’s three daughters moving out of the home.
The couple finally announced their split in September past year saying: ‘Over the recent past, we have realized that our lives have gone in different directions and our romantic relationship has turned into a deep friendship.’
Lee then moved to California and snapped up a beachfront house in Malibu for $3.38million.
Despite the break up, Cuomo and Lee appear to still be close.
In April she said to the New York Times she and Cuomo still communicate nearly every day, adding, ‘He’s still my guy. Neither one of us, well as far as I know, has had a date.’
She said that she watches Cuomo’s daily coronavirus briefings and has been doing her best to help even from across the country.
‘You know, nobody has a daily routine right now,’ she said. ‘I get up and I see what the latest news is. Of course I watch Andrew live and then share with him my thoughts.’
In another Instagram post on Monday she shared an exterior view of the home and said ‘I walked around the outside of my beautiful home —I wanted to drink in every angle and remember the beautiful moments that were spent in every place’
Family: Lee acted as a stepmother to his three daughters — Michaela, Cara, and Mariah — from his previous marriage to Kerry Kennedy
Speaking on her relationship with Cuomo’s daughters Michaela, Cara and Mariah from his previous marriage to Kerry Kennedy she said: ‘They’re my family, and they always will be my family.’
‘We share a home, we share children, we share friendship. I will protect him and be there for him until the end.’
Lee shot to fame in the early 2000s as the host of ‘Semi-Homemade Cooking With Sandra Lee’ and went on to build a cookbook, magazine, and TV empire.
She and Cuomo were introduced at a party in the Hamptons in 2005 by political adviser Alexandra Stanton, one of Lee’s best friends and Cuomo’s former aide.
At the time Cuomo, son of former New York Governor Mario Cuomo, was fresh off a failed run for governor and a very public and bitter divorce from Kennedy, the daughter of Robert F. Kennedy.
Lee had also recently divorced from KB Home CEO Bruce Karatz after four years of marriage.
With Lee in his corner, Cuomo rebounded and was elected New York Attorney General in 2006. He was elected governor four years later in 2010 and has held the office ever since.
Cuomo was by Lee’s side when she was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a double mastectomy in 2015.