Ina Garten's New Memoir Reveals She And Jeffrey Were Once Separated

If you've ever casually tuned into Ina Garten's hit show "Barefoot Contessa," you may have seen her husband Jeffrey make an appearance. He tends to pop up at the end of episodes to taste Garten's scrumptious dishes with her (and he's only ever disliked two of them), or in specific episodes where the celebrity chef dedicates her meals to him. Fans often tout the couple as relationship goals and, overall, they may well be — which is why it's extra surprising that in Garten's new memoir, she reveals that they once separated.

In her long-awaited memoir "Be Ready When the Luck Happens," which officially releases on October 1, 2024, the cooking show host explains that the separation occurred early on in their marriage, before Garten became the famous figure she is today (per People). Back in the 1970s, she was swamped trying to make her specialty food store, Barefoot Contessa, into a success. She often worked until midnight, but Jeffrey wanted a wife that would be home to make dinner. "At my lowest point, I wondered if the only answer would be to get a divorce," Garten said in her book. She proposed a separation as a potential precursor to a divorce. Jeffrey agreed and moved to Washington, D.C. full-time for the foreseeable future.

While this decision may come as a shock to fans, it makes more sense when you take into account how long Garten and Jeffrey have been together and how they've both evolved as people during that time. The two met in 1963, when Garten was only 15 years old and Jeffrey was in college. They got married when she was 20 years old (and he was 22), and eventually both worked in the White House in the 1970s (a job that she doesn't miss).

But despite the fact that Jeffrey's expectation of Garten to fulfill traditional wifely roles was what led to their separation, he was the one who first encouraged her to build her own career. "I was watching TV at 11 o'clock in the morning and Jeffrey said, 'You need to figure out what you want to do with your life,'" she told People. Ultimately, their separation only lasted six weeks, with Garten eventually meeting her husband back in D.C. when her store closed in the winter.

She explained her decision to commit to her work, and Jeffrey went to therapy, where it only took one session for him to accept Garten's choice. Today, the celebrity chef doesn't regret 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 wrote.