GOSSIP & RUMORS: Who is Anne Burrell’s husband Stuart Claxton?

Anne Burrell met the love of her life, Stuart Claxton, seven years before her sudden death on June 17. She was 55.

Here’s what to know about Burrell’s husband in the wake of her tragic passing.

He and Burrell met on a dating app

The Food Network star and Claxton matched on the dating app Bumble in 2018.

During an interview with People in 2020, Burrell said that she and Claxton “both knew immediately” that they were right for each other.

“I don’t know if we had both thought of marriage, but we both were like, ‘Oh, yeah, this is something,’” she said at the time. “This is really going to be real, and this is going to turn into something.’”

“Once you get to be a woman of 50 years old, you don’t really think that marriage is going to be on the plate for you,” Burrell continued. “I was always really focused on my career, and marriage was never a huge thing in my life that I was looking for. Then, when I met Stuart, my opinion about all that changed.”

He proposed to Burrell during the COVID-19 pandemic

After two years of dating, Claxton proposed to the beloved cooking icon in April 2020.

He popped the question during a “date night” in Burrell’s hometown of Cazenovia, N.Y., while they were isolating with her family amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“My mom and Stuart got together and made a plan where he and I were going to have a date night,” Burrell recalled shortly after the proposal. “We were having a nice time, and Stuart then starts saying, ‘Oh, this is a good song to put on a playlist for our wedding reception.’ And I’m like, ‘Okay, sure. But why are we talking about that now?’”

“We started talking about family and just how nice it was to be here with everyone, so I sort of started getting weepy already,” she continued. “Then Stuart pulls a ring out of his pants pocket, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t believe this is even happening.’”

Claxton revealed that he bought the engagement ring and started to plan the proposal before the pandemic lockdown began.

“I got the ring right before we left for Cazenovia, when we didn’t really know how long things were going to go on,” he said. “But I’m very glad I did it.”

“I think some silver linings come out of this whole situation,” Burrell chimed in. “If it wasn’t happening, we wouldn’t be up here with my family, and they would not have been involved in the way that they were.”

He and Burrell married in October 2021

The couple tied the knot on Oct. 16, 2021, at the Windridge Estate in Burrell’s Cazenovia hometown.

Burrell shared details from her and Claxton’s “fairy tale” nuptials during an appearance on “The Rachael Ray Show” shortly after the wedding.

“Everything was magical,” she told Ray, who served as a bridesmaid during the ceremony. “I was like, ‘I want the fairy tale! I’m only going to be a bride once!’”

“We wrote our own vows, which I thought were very cute and lovely, and then when it came to the time when they said I had to say, ‘I do,’ it just came out of me like, ‘YES I DO!’” Burrell said.

Claxton later added that his and the celeb chef’s marriage was “wonderful” and a “whole adventure.”

“It’s been wonderful, to say the least,” he told People in 2023. “Anne and I hadn’t lived together before we moved in and got married, so it’s been a whole adventure, but very lovely at the same time.”

He is a sales and marketing executive

Claxton graduated from Swansea University in Wales in 1993 with a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish and Philosophy, according to his LinkedIn profile.

He then earned a Master of Science in Media Management from Scotland’s University of Stirling in 2008.

After stints with Guinness World Records, Time Inc., and TelevisaUnivision, Claxton became Vice President of Marketing for NextUp in January 2023. The nonprofit organization focuses on advancing women’s leadership in the workplace.

He has a son from a previous relationship

Although Burrell and Claxton never had children of their own, Claxton does have one son, Javier, 20, from a previous marriage.

In June 2024, nearly one year before her death, Burrell shared a picture of herself, Claxton and Javier on Instagram.

“[The Claxtons] hit the cricket today!” she wrote alongside a photo of the three of them at a cricket match. “My first cricket match and it was a blast! One of those gorgeous early summer days..just perfect.”

He found Burrell on the morning of her death

Claxton and the rest of Burrell’s announced the Food Network star’s passing on June 17.

“Anne was a beloved wife, sister, daughter, stepmother, and friend – her smile lit up every room she entered,” her family said in a statement. “Anne’s light radiated far beyond those she knew, touching millions across the world. Though she is no longer with us, her warmth, spirit, and boundless love remain eternal.”

It was later revealed that Claxton discovered his wife “unconscious and unresponsive” on the shower floor of their Brooklyn home “between six and seven hours” after he had last seen her alive.

Although her cause of death has not been confirmed, a spokesperson for the New York City Fire Department said a 911 caller claimed Burrell suffered a “cardiac arrest.”

A source told The Post that Burrell’s body was discovered next to dozens of pills, and The New York Times later reported that the NYPD was investigating her death as a possible overdose.

While he has yet to publicly address his wife’s tragic death, Claxton broke cover for the first time since her passing to attend her wake in New York City on June 20.

He appeared downcast in a blue suit jacket as he attended the viewing, and the marketing exec was joined by over 100 of Burrell’s closest friends and colleagues for the somber event.