Giuliana Rancic once ruled the red carpet. Then she disappeared from TV.

In the past 20 years, Giuliana Rancic was not just a staple of the celebrity interview circuit — she was the celebrity interview.

She was the E! correspondent for every major awards show's red carpet, the co-anchor on E! News, and host of the channel's savage sartorial smackdown, Fashion Police.

Giuliana's beaming smile and snappy comebacks were once a mainstay of the E! platform, and alongside Ryan Seacrest she became the face of the network, even nabbing her own reality show with her husband, Bill Rancic. 

It's been a complicated journey for the TV star, who first started with E! in 2002 and became a co-anchor in 2005. 

But after quitting in 2021, the presenter was seemingly never seen on TV again. 

Giuliana Rancic's breast cancer diagnosis and fertility struggles.

Giuliana and her The Apprentice winner husband Bill starred on reality series Giuliana & Bill. After meeting in 2005 during an E! interview, the couple got married in 2007, and started their reality show in 2009 which ran for seven seasons. 

Giuliana and Bill Rancic in 2011. Image: Getty. 

Over the course of the series, the presenter was candid about her fertility struggles which led to her finding out she had breast cancer. 

Rancic underwent three rounds of IVF but then learned she had breast cancer. Guiliana elected to undergo a double mastectomy in late 2011. 

She and her husband Bill would go on to welcome their son, Edward Duke, via surrogate on August 29, 2012.

Giuliana Rancic's controversy with Zendaya.

Giuliana's brand as a harsh-but-fair fashion critic was permanently tarnished when she mocked Zendaya on a post-Oscars episode of Fashion Police in 2015. 

At the time, Zendaya was just 19 and was wearing her hair in dreadlocks for the Academy Awards, which was something Rancic took a dislike to. 

"I feel like she smells like patchouli oil or maybe weed," Giuliana remarked on the episode.  

Watch the comment here. Post continues after video.

The fallout was immediate. 

Viewers considered the comment tone-deaf and mean-spirited at best and straight-up racist at worst. 

Zendaya shared her reaction on Instagram, receiving floods of support from her fans. 

"There is a fine line between what is funny and disrespectful," she wrote on Instagram. "Someone said something about my hair at the Oscars that left me in awe. Not because I was relishing in rave outfit reviews, but because I was hit with ignorant slurs and pure disrespect."

She continued "There is already harsh criticism of African American hair in society without the help of ignorant people who choose to judge others based on the curl of their hair."

Zendaya said she was proud to wear her hair in dreads at the Oscars to "remind people of colour that our hair is good enough."

Zendaya at the 87th Annual Academy Awards. Image: Getty.

Guiliana quickly released an on-air apology on the E! network. 

“Something I said last night crossed the line,” Rancic began.

"I just want everyone to know, I didn't intend to hurt anybody – but, I have learned, it is not my intent that matters, it's the result. And the result is that people are offended, including Zendaya, and that is not okay. Therefore, I want to say to Zendaya, and anyone else out there that I have hurt, that I am so, so sincerely sorry. This really has been a learning experience for me."

Her Fashion Police co-host Kelly Osbourne was not happy with Guiliana's initial comment. "I'm giving everyone involved 24 hours to make it right or the world will hear how I really feel," she tweeted at the time. 

Osbourne later quit and continued to throw shade at Rancic in the press. 

“I will never admit to liking Giuliana because I don’t,” Osbourne told The Wrap later that year. “I don’t think she’s a good person and I think she’s a liar.”

Between 2015 and 2018, Guiliana scaled back her work with the network, no longer hosting the E! News program. 

Giuliana Rancic's decision to quit the E! network.

In May 2021, Rancic announced she was leaving E! which came just three months after her long-time co-host, Ryan Seacrest, also exited the network's Live From The Red Carpet show. 

“The decision for E! News was one that really came from wanting to be with family more, and focusing and spending as much time as possible with family,” Giuliana told PEOPLE. 

“And then also having that flexibility to give 100 percent to our restaurants and our other businesses — to be doing things that we’re really passionate about."

Giuliana and Bill own RPM Italian, a successful chain of restaurants in Chicago, Washington, D.C. and Las Vegas. 

Giuliana and Bill Rancic at the opening of RPM Italian in Las Vegas. Image: Getty.

Orange Is the New Black's Laverne Cox took over Giuliana Rancic’s role as a red carpet correspondent.

But amid the news of Rancic's departure from E!, there was some confused messaging about what this meant for her future with the network. 

"I hope I will be at E! for many, many years to come, and they have been so supportive. Truly, I mean it’s just an incredible family to have. But it is nice having a little more flexibility," she said to PEOPLE.

In an Instagram caption, Giuliana again hinted that this wouldn't be the end of her working with the company. 

“One of my passions is great storytelling and I am thrilled to announce a new development deal with E!’s parent company NBCUniversal where I will be producing and bringing stories to life," ⁣⁣⁣ Rancic wrote in an Instagram caption.

E! echoed Rancic's sentiment in their statement at the time. “We are excited to announce a development deal across NBCUniversal where she will bring her passion projects to life. We look forward to collaborating with Giuliana in the future and we will always be her biggest fans—on and off the carpet.”

But Rancic's teased projects with NBCUniversal never eventuated.

These days, she mostly just promotes her prosecco brand, flogs her fashion label on the Home Shopping Network, grows her restaurant empire, and spends time with her husband Bill and son, Duke. 

Feature image: Christopher Polk/E! Entertainment.