CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: A true “family” restaurant: (BACK ROW, FROM LEFT) R.J. Melman, Jerrod Melman, Bill Rancic, “Mama” DePandi, Eduardo DePandi. (FRONT ROW) Kathleen Henson, Molly Melman, me, and Giuliana Rancic; It was a thrill to meet Harper’s Bazaar ’s Glenda Bailey at the Coach store at 625 North Michigan Avenue, where we chatted about our favorite bags and her “cool” former colleague, our editorial director in New York, Mandi Norwood; with publisher Dan Uslan at our Horseshoe Casino “In the Red” holiday party

When I first met Giuliana Rancic back in November 2006, she had been dating The Apprentice winner Bill Rancic for seven months. The love-struck couple, in town for a fundraiser, told me they were already looking at homes in Hinsdale. (So I wasn’t surprised when rehabbing a home there became a plotline for their Style Network show, Giuliana & Bill, four years later).

After we booked her for this cover and she agreed to discuss her struggle with breast cancer, I remembered that first interview for the Chicago Sun-Times, and I dug up my notes. “He’s a gentleman,” she had said about the man who would become her husband a year later. “He was raised right; he’s very into family and commitment.”

There would have been no way to predict back then how important Bill’s commitment to his vows would be. With America watching, over the last three years they’ve dealt with infertility, a miscarriage, and now Giuliana’s double mastectomy.

In mid-November, I saw the couple at a photo shoot we had scheduled for a story about their new restaurant venture with the Melman family. Giuliana has always been an open book—even if we haven’t seen each other in months, she’s always chatty and warm. But that day, something told me not to ask about the cancer.

Then, in December, like everyone else I watched as they shared their painful announcement on the Today show. Giuliana explained the reason she had opted for surgery instead of a less aggressive treatment: “Bill said, I just need you around for the next 50 years.”

I couldn’t agree more—Giuliana, you’re not going anywhere.

SUSANNA NEGOVAN

Follow me on Twitter at @SusannaNegovan