Entertainment
ByTreva Bowdoin/
Rachel Boston might not be Hallmark's most prolific actor, but the number of times she's given viewers the warm and fuzzies with a sweet love story is in the double digits. According to Cameron Mathison, the tale of how Boston met her husband, Tolya Ashe, is worthy of its own Hallmark movie.
In 2020, Mathison got Boston to briefly recap her fairytale romance with Ashe on "Home & Family." She revealed that one of Ashe's sisters introduced them to each other,but they were only friends at first. She also agreed with Mathison when he compared their meeting to one of her movies. "We actually had the classic Hallmark start where you've known each other for a long time, family is involved," Boston said. She told Nuts for Fashion that she was in her family's home state of New Mexico shooting a TV series at the time. It seems that she and Ashe didn't spend a ton of time together during those years when they were just friends, likely because they lived on separate coasts. "Then 10 years later we reconnected and that was just amazing," she continued. There was also some Hallmark magic in the fortuitous timing of their reunion. "It made me trust more in, when the time is right, people come into your life," Boston said on "Home & Family."
According to Boston, she hit the jackpot when she married Ashe, who has a Hallmark-worthy profession.
Tolya Ashe is a private chef
Rachel Boston does the baking in "A Christmas Cookie Catastrophe," but at home, Tolya Ashe whips up decadent dishes worthy of a holiday table in a Hallmark movie. Ashe is a personal chef who creates meals that are healthy and flavorful. "The right seasoning and preparation can turn a mundane food into something extraordinary," he writes on his website. Ashe's specialty once earned him the opportunity to cook for Jennifer Garner's guests at an event for Once Upon a Farm, the actor's line of organic foods for children.
Hallmark took advantage of Ashe's skills by asking him to show their viewers how to cook one of his nutritious dishes, caramelized fennel with chiles and apples, on "Home & Family." [0:30] Boston talked about their relationship as both she and her husband sautéed. She revealed that they live out Hallmark scenes in real life by picking their own apples to add to Ashe's recipes, and she also said that the two of them did some long-distance cooking together via FaceTime when she was filming the holiday film "A Christmas Carousel." According to Boston, being married to Ashe has improved her cooking skills immensely,so it sounds like he now has himself a competent sous chef.
For Boston, Ashe's best quality actually isn't his cooking ability. "What made me fall in love with him is that he's incredibly joyful and kind," she told Nuts for Fashion. "He listens, he cares, and he just makes life better."
Tolya Ashe's sister has a famous husband
Rachel Boston told Nuts for Fashion that Tolya Ashe is a pretty funny guy, and he also has a hilarious brother-in-law. His sister, human rights lawyer Alexi Ashe, is married to late-night host Seth Meyers. And Alexi isn't the only member of the family with a "Saturday Night Live" connection — she and Tolya have a sister named Ariel Ashe who once worked as a set designer for Meyers' old stomping grounds. Now, Ariel is part of the design team Ashe Leandro.
In 2013, Alexi, Meyers, Tolya, and food editor Elettra Wiedemann participated in a grilled cheese cookoff in a video for Vogue. It was a battle of the sexes, and Tolya coached Meyers through the grueling grilling process. "See, cooking is easy, Seth," he assured his teammate. "It's like pouring a glass of water." However, the guys were forced to concede that the women's sandwich was the clear winner. (Maybe Tolya just needed his future bride on his team instead.)
The close-knit Ashe clan got to celebrate a new addition to the family when Tolya and Boston welcomed their first child, a baby girl named Grace, in 2022. In her interview with Nuts for Fashion, Boston said that yet another positive trait Tolya possesses is his ability to charm children. "He has a very kind heart," added "The More Love Grows" star. He can probably make some pretty mean baby food, too.
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