Food Network star Ree Drummond reveals where she got the 'Pioneer Woman' nickname

Ree Drummond is on her seventh year of filming her highly-rated Food Network hit, "The Pioneer Woman," yet a lot of fans aren't necessarily familiar with her journey from Hollywood to Oklahoma to culinary rockstar.

Though she seems to be at peace living out on a ranch in the middle of nowhere, it wasn’t quite how Drummond, 48, thought her life would turn out.

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The star, who first became a well-known face in the cooking world through her popular blog that she started in 2006, grew up in Bartlesville, Oklahoma but headed to California to live in the big city with the hopes of becoming an actress and go to the University of Southern California.

"I had no idea what that meant, but I just thought it sounded fun," Drummond told People.

Drummond was visiting her hometown when she met her now husband, Ladd, who she eventually fell in love with before she moved back to Oklahoma. It was her friends' in response to the fact that she was marrying a cowboy that she initially got her nickname, Pioneer Woman.

"When my friends heard that I was marrying a cattle rancher and moving to the country, they literally could not believe it,” she said with a laugh. “They started calling me the Pioneer Woman as a joke.”

Now, Drummond shares her “Cowboy Friendly” cooking tips on the Food Network to adoring fans.

The show has only added to her massive empire, which includes her blog, countless books, a new lifestyle magazine, a Walmart homeware line. She also runs a restaurant and retail store called the Mercantile in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, where she lives with her husband and four kids.

“I think a common misconception about a small town in rural America is that everyone believes the same way," she explains of her happy life in the country. "Nothing could be further from the truth."

Her fifth cookbook, "Come and Get It," is due out October 24th.

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