Notable People
It’s hard to imagine Ina Garten without her partner in crime, Jeffrey Garten. But there was a time when she actually asked her husband for a separation. Here’s why.
Celebrity chef and entrepreneur Ina Garten, best known for her Barefoot Contessa show on Food Network, has been serving up easy, wholesome recipes since she bought a specialty foods shop in Westhampton, New York more than 40 years ago. Although Garten has since sold the store, it was the backdrop for building her legacy — and her husband, Jeffrey Garten, was always along for the ride.
… Or so we thought. Ina recently admitted in her memoir, “Be Ready When the Luck Happens,” that there was a time early in her small-business-owner career where she wasn’t sure if her marriage to Jeffrey was meant to last.
Ina Garten revealed she asked Jeffrey for a separation after moving to Westhampton
Ina and Jeffrey have always been couple goals, but that doesn’t mean everything between them was perfect from the start. The two had a rock-solid marriage for the first decade of their relationship, but when Ina had an opportunity to become a specialty foods store owner in Westhampton in the late 1970s, she couldn’t pass up the chance. Jeffrey was excited for her, but he was still working in Washington, D.C. — where the couple lived before Ina bought the Barefoot Contessa food store.
But during her first summer as a shop owner, she realized she was so dedicated to the store that she couldn’t focus on giving her marriage what it deserved. Ina said she asked Jeffrey for a separation during a walk on the beach one night. “I told him that I needed to be on my own,” she wrote. “I didn’t say whether it was for now … or forever.” Garten said that Jeffrey responded “in true Jeffrey form” and encouraged her to do what was best for her.
“He packed his bag and went home to Washington with no plan to come back,” she wrote. “And just like that, I was alone.”
Ina and Jeffrey Garten eventually reconciled
Of course, we all know that Ina and Jeffrey’s love story didn’t end there. Ina later revealed in an interview that she was actually glad she had done it because she feels it’s the reason their marriage worked out.
“Thank God I did,” she told People of her decision to ask for the separation. “I think how crazy that was and how dangerous it was, but we wouldn’t have the relationship we have now if I hadn’t done it.” She said the separation “changed him … but it also changed me too.” Ina and Jeffrey did have to overcome some odds, such as only seeing each other on weekends for so long, but anyone who has watched Garten’s Food Network show has seen the undeniable love between the two.
