Food Network Star Ina Garten Reflects on Separating From Her Husband Because He ‘Expected’ Her to Make Dinner

Food Network star and Barefoot Contessa creator Ina Garten has revealed that she briefly separated from her husband Jeffrey Garten at one point.

In an interview with People, the legendary 76-year-old TV cook and author spoke about the time they separated in the '70s and almost got divorced. Her relationship with Jeffrey, 77, is one of the many topics broached in her new memoir Be Ready When the Luck Happens, and she shared that she felt compelled to tell her story after hearing similar things from other women.

"I've known women since then who have found that they couldn't kind of change their relationships from husband and wife to partners," she shared. "And remember, in the '70s, that's what Jeffrey expected. He expected that he was marrying a wife, and I don't know why... those things kind of chafed. You know, that it was expected that I would make dinner."

She said that back then there was an "expectation" of both of them to be responsible for certain aspects of their relationship like him paying the bills.

"There were certain roles that we played and I found them really annoying," she continued. "I couldn't get quite get through, and I felt that if I hit the pause button that I would get his attention. And thank God I did." She explained that she was busy working at her specialty food store, Barefoot Contessa, which made those "roles" even less ideal for their relationship.

Jeffrey was working at the White House at the time and they separated around the time he was on a three-month worldwide tour, giving them both the time and space to think about the future of their relationship. "I think we both changed," she said. "We both had a lot of time to think on our own."

Jeffrey is known to fans of Barefoot Contessa thanks to his various appearances on the show, typically helping his wife with tasks in the kitchen. In the upcoming memoir, out next month, she wrote that at one point she "wondered if the only answer would be to get a divorce." She added that it was "the hardest thing I ever did."

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Earlier in the interview, she showered her husband of over 50 years with praise. "He's such a kind, supportive, positive, and constantly kind of adoring guy," she said. "I mean, it's just been wonderful. It's just an absolute 180 degrees from the way I grew up. Where everything I did was wrong and now everything I do is right, and probably neither of those is true."

She said that she's always known that she's the "most important thing in his life," and she's felt the same way about him, too. "He never prioritized his work over mine," she added. "In fact, it was probably quite the opposite. He wanted to make sure I was doing what I wanted to do, and then he figured out what he wanted to do."