Ina Garten hinted at having a challenging childhood during a recent interview — revealing that it’s the reason why she decided not to start a family with her husband, Jeffrey.
When asked if she thought having children would hinder her career, she responded “much harder,” before she went on in more detail.
“I don’t think that’s why I made the decision,” she clarified to BBC News’ Katty Kay. “I’m actually writing a memoir now, and I’m kind of looking back at my childhood. It was nothing I wanted to recreate.”
She added: “I’m always looking forward. To look back and realize a lot of my decisions were based on my childhood, I think that was really the motivating factor, and Jeffrey and I were just so happy together.”
In 2021, the “Barefoot Contessa” star, 75, told Al Roker that she was “craving” a connection to people when she was younger.
4
“I felt that if you feed them, they always show up and you have a good time together. And that was the connection I loved. So, I kept doing it over and over again,” she said at the time.
“When I was growing up, I wasn’t allowed to cook,” the celebrity chef continued. “I think my mother just wanted me in my room and she wanted the kitchen to herself. And so she said, ‘It’s your job to study, it’s my job to cook, and just get out of the kitchen.’ So, I kind of always wanted to do it.”
In 2017, she also joked to Katie Couric that she’s “the ultimate rebellion” because of her career choice after years of her mother not allowing carbs or butter.
4
“My mother was obsessive about food. … She just kind of got dinner on the table. … And her idea of a great dessert was an apple,” she recalled. “I’m still working out issues from my parents.”
The author and Jeffrey met when she was 15, and they tied the knot when she was 20.
Last year, Garten gushed that Jeffrey is the “secret ingredient” to her life and that they at times send spicy texts to each other.
“My dear friend, who’s also my publicist, he sent a text to her, and he meant it for me, and he said, ‘You’re gonna be delicious tonight,’ and it went to her,” she recalled during a recent appearance on “The Drew Barrymore Show.”
“She was like, ‘Woah.’ She sent back, ‘I don’t think this was meant for me.'”
4
According to People, the couple reside together in East Hampton, New York, and keep the romance alive by going on date night dinners and sunset cruises. Part of the week, Jeffrey commutes to Connecticut as he’s the Dean Emeritus and Juan Trippe Professor in the Practice Emeritus of International Trade, Finance, and Business at Yale.
“We had had that schedule for 40 years, where he would leave on Monday, and come back on Friday,” she told People. “And then when that pandemic happened, I was like, ‘Oh, whoa. What’s going to happen here?’ And 24 hours later, I’m like, ‘This is great. I’ve got a buddy all the time.'”
