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Ina Garten was only 15 years old when she first metΒ her now-husband, Jeffrey Garten. The couple dated for five years before tying the knot in 1968 in her parentsβ Connecticut backyard when she was 20 and he was 22.
Early on, Ina, 76, and Jeffrey, 77, decided not to have kids.
βIΒ reallyΒ appreciate that other people do β and we will always have friends that have children that we are close to β but it was a choice I made very early,β the Food Network star said on the βKatie Couric Podcastβ in 2017.
βIΒ reallyΒ felt, I feel, that I would have never been able to have the life Iβve had,β Ina continued. βSo, itβs a choice, and that was the choice I made.β
In 2023, the television personalityΒ shared more detailsΒ on her decision.
When asked if she thought having children would hinder her career, the renowned chef responded, βMuch harderβ before explaining further.
βI donβt think thatβs why I made the decision,β she clarified to BBC Newsβ Katty Kay.Β βIβmΒ actuallyΒ writing a memoir now, and IβmΒ kind ofΒ looking back at my childhood.Β It was nothing I wanted to re-create.β
She added: βIβm always looking forward.Β To lookΒ back andΒ realizeΒ a lotΒ of my decisionsΒ were basedΒ on my childhood, I think that wasΒ reallyΒ the motivating factor, and Jeffrey and I were just so happy together.β
In the five decades since, Ina has gone on to write 13 cookbooks, release a product line, host the long-running show βBarefoot Contessaβ on Food Network, and host a new series called βBe My Guest with Ina Garten.βΒ
Her husband has also been successful in his career. He joined the US Army Special Forces before working for several presidential administrations and on Wall Street.
Jeffrey has maintained a lower profile despite his wife being in the public eye for decades. Still, he has never wavered in showing his support, including the occasional cameo on Inaβs show.
The now Yale professor even made headlines after word spread that he accidentally sent a love text meant for Ina to the wrong person.
βMy dear friend, whoβs also my publicist, he sent a text to her, and he meant it for me, and he said, βYouβre gonna be delicious tonight,β and it went to her,β Ina revealed on βThe Drew Barrymore ShowΒ in 2022. βShe was like, βWhoa.β She sent back, βI donβt think thisΒ was meantΒ for me.’β
So, who is Ina Gartenβs husband? Hereβs everything to know about Jeffrey Garten and his 56-year marriage to the author.
Jeff and Ina met through a mutualΒ friend
JeffreyΒ first laid eyes on Ina during her visit to Dartmouth College in 1963 to visit her brother.
According to Food Network Magazine, Jeffrey was gazing out the library windowΒ andΒ he said to his roommate, βLook at that girl, isnβtΒ she beautiful?βΒ His roommate knew her brother and made the connection.
βHe saw me on the street and then sent me a letter with a photograph of himself in it,β the βBarefoot Contessaβ star toldΒ PeopleΒ in 2018.Β βIΒ justΒ remember running through the house and going, βMom, Mom, youβve got to see this picture of this guy.Β Heβs so cute!β β
Six months later, the pair had their first date.
Their first date didnβt go asΒ plannedΒ
Ina shared on her 2022 episode of βThe Drew Barrymoreβ that her first date with Jeffrey was βa disaster.β
βWhy he ever wanted to see me again, I have no idea,β Ina confessed. βI was in high school, and he was at Dartmouth, and he called, and we had a mutual friend, and heβd seen me walking around the campus at Dartmouth, and he asked the friend if he could call me.β
βSo, he called, and I just knew he was a friend of the friend, and I thought, βWell, heβs a Dartmouth guy, so he probably wants to, like, go to a bar or something.βΒ I had never been to a barΒ andΒ soΒ I said, βOh, letβs just go to this bar, Hilltop,β like Iβd been there many times.β
Ina played it cool until she got to the door and realized the bouncers wanted her identification.Β
βWe parked there and walked in and there are two big guys at the door and I said, βWhat was that?β I didnβt understand what they were saying,β she shared. βFinally, Jeffrey said, βThey want your ID,β and I said to him, βWhatβs that?β β
βI had no ideaΒ that IΒ needed a fake ID to get into a bar when I was 16,β she said.Β βWe turned around and left and I said so many years laterΒ I saidΒ to him, βWhat did you think?Β Why would you want to take me out again?ββ
And his sweet reply further solidifies their solid bond.
ββI thought you neededΒ taking care of,ββ Ina recounted. βWhich is so sweet. And he was so right.β
Jeffrey invested andΒ believedΒ in InaβsΒ careerΒ Β
In 1970, Ina worked as a nuclear policy analyst in the White House alongside her husband, who encouraged her early in their marriage toΒ forge her own career path.
βI was watching TV at 11 oβclock in the morningΒ andΒ Jeffrey said, βYou need to figure out what you want to do with your life,β β she told People in 2016. βI was shocked. It was 1969Β andΒ I was married. That was what girls did.β
But she knew deep down she didnβt find her work fulfilling: βI came to him one night, and I said, βItβs just not me. I want to do something more fun than this.β β
βFrom the time we got married, IΒ reallyΒ was interested in cooking, but I had never cooked at all,β admitted the cook.Β βHe encouraged it so much byΒ justΒ being so appreciative when I cooked, and that wasΒ reallyΒ the beginning of my career.β
Ina saw a business for sale in the New York Times in Westhampton Beach, New York, and decided to buy it, keep theΒ name of theΒ businessΒ (Barefoot Contessa) the same, and create a specialty food store.
βIt was just unbelievable that he was willing to invest every penny we had in something Iβd never done before and in a town weβd never been to,β she gushed. βHeβs just done that all the way.β
He is currently the Dean Emeritus at the Yale School ofΒ Management
These days, the businessman serves as the Dean Emeritus at the Yale School of Management and teaches courses on the global economy.
According toΒ his faculty page, before joining the team at Yale, Jeffrey worked for multiple White House administrations, was a managing director on Wall Street, and served in the US Army Special Forces.
He holds a B.A. from Dartmouth College and a Ph.D. fromΒ theΒ School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS)Β at Johns Hopkins University.
He wrote Ina letters every day while heΒ was deployedΒ in theΒ army
Before Jeffrey worked at the White House or at a university, he was in theΒ army, where he wrote his other halfβs letters day in and day out.
From 1968 to 1972, JeffreyΒ served as a lieutenantΒ in the 82nd Airborne Division, aΒ captain in theΒ U.S. Army Special Forces, and an advisor to the Royal Thai Army.
He deployed shortly after their nuptials butΒ continued to keepΒ Ina at the forefront of his mind.Β
βI wrote to InaΒ every single day,β he shared withΒ PeopleΒ in 2018. βDuring the whole year, IΒ was only able toΒ call her once.β
And to this day, she has kept every single letter he wrote.Β
She told the outlet, βI was recently reading through them, and I came across one that said, βIβd love to take you to Paris, and we wonβt have enough money for a hotel, but maybe weβll go camping.ββΒ
They ended up doing just that.Β And nowΒ the pair even owns a place in Paris where they spend their anniversary each year.
Jeffrey is always up for trying out whatever Ina whips up in the kitchen
After five decades together, JeffreyΒ stillΒ remains Inaβs favorite taste tester in the kitchen.
βI think the best way you can express love by cooking for someone isΒ figureΒ out what they like, not what you like, what they like, and make it for them,β she told Today in February 2018. βAnd theyβll feelΒ really good.β
And out of the hundreds of recipes Ina has created, Jeffrey wasnβt fond of one dish in particular.
βThere was one (dish) I made very early on (in our marriage) that was like ground beef and corn that was just dreadful,β she shared. βBut we couldnβt afford to make another meal, so we ate it and said it was delicious.β
Like his wife, Jeffrey is also a publishedΒ author
Jeffrey hasΒ written six booksΒ on the subjects of global economics and politics.
His writings haveΒ been publishedΒ in the Harvard Business Review, BusinessWeek, Foreign Affairs, BusinessWeek, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, The New York Times, Newsweek and Foreign Policy.
Jeffrey has the secret to aΒ long-standingΒ marriageΒ
The duo marked their 55th wedding anniversary in December 2023 by answering questions about one another in anΒ InstagramΒ video. When asked about his secret to a long marriage, JeffreyΒ answered, βLove Ina to death.β
βWhen Jeffrey and I were first married, I asked him,Β whatΒ doΒ you want for your life?Β He replied I want to be a good husband. Iβd say you nailed that! Happy anniversary, Jeffrey,β Ina captioned the video.
Ina and Jeffrey separated early on in theirΒ marriage
Although the couple is stronger than ever, Ina detailed their one-time separation and near-divorce in the 1970s in her upcoming memoir,Β βBe Ready When the Luck Happens.β
Ina was working overtime running the specialty food store that would laterΒ shoot her to stardom, the Barefoot ΒContessa, but Jeffrey, 77, βexpected a wife that would make dinner,β she toldΒ PeopleΒ in September 2024.
βWhen I bought Barefoot Contessa, I shattered our traditional roles βΒ took a baseball bat to them and left them in pieces,β Ina continued in her memoir. βWhile I was still cooking, cleaning, shopping, managing at the store, I was doing it as a businesswoman, not a wife. My responsibilities made it impossible for me to even think about anything else. There was no expectation about who got home from work first and what they shouldΒ do,Β because I never got home from work!β
At the time, Ina felt it pertinent to figure out what she needed on her own.
βWhen Jeffrey came on weekends, he was a distraction,β she continued. βI didnβt pay enough attention to him. I just wanted everyone to leave me alone so I could concentrate on the store. JeffreyΒ was fully formedΒ and living the life he wanted to live.Β I wasnβt, and IΒ wouldnβtΒ be able toΒ figure out who I was or what I wanted unless I was on my own.Β I needed that freedom.β
βI thought about it a lot, and at my lowest point, I wondered if the only answer would be to get a divorce,β she penned. βI loved Jeffrey and didnβt want to shock β Βor hurt β Βhim, so Iβd start by suggesting we pause for a separation.β
βIt was the hardest thing I ever did. I toldΒ himΒ that I needed to be on my own. I didnβt say whether it was for nowΒ β¦Β or forever. In true Jeffrey form, he said, βIf you feel like you need to be on your own, you need to do it.βΒ He packed his bag and went home to WashingtonΒ with no plan to come back.Β I buried my emotions and threw myself into my work.β
Ina then told Jeffrey that heβd need to see a therapistΒ if he wantedΒ to reconcile. She had hoped a professional would help him see their dynamic as equal partners.
βOne hour, thatβs all Jeffrey needed,β she recalled. βHe went once for an hour andΒ totallyΒ got it.β
βJeffreyβs willingness to see the therapist was as significant as anything that might happen during their session,β Ina explained. βHe was that determined to convince me he was serious about making our marriage work.β
βSix weeks passed.Β We talked,Β weΒ listened, and more importantly,Β weΒ heard each other when we aired our concerns. Moving forward, we could be equals who took care of each other. It wouldnβt happen overnight, but if we worked toward the same goal, we could change things together. Thank God I did,β she wrote. βI think how crazy that was and how dangerous it was, but we wouldnβt have the relationship we have now if I hadnβt done it.β
βIt changed him,β Ina added, βbut it also changed meΒ too.β