Food Network star Ina Garten recently revealed one of the reasons she and her husband of 55 years, Jeffrey, opted not to have children.
The “Barefoot Contessa” host said her own childhood was at least partially to blame. When asked during an interview with BBC News’ Katty Kay if she chose her career over kids, Garten said while it would have been “much harder” to juggle both, that wasn’t the main driver.
“I don’t think that’s why I made the decision,” the 75-year-old celebrity chef said. “I’m actually writing a memoir now, and I’m kind of looking back at my childhood. It was nothing I wanted to recreate.”
“I’m always looking forward. To look back and realize a lot of my decisions were based on my childhood, I think that was really the motivating factor, and Jeffrey and I were just so happy together,” Garten added. She and Jeffrey met when Garten was just 15 and got married when she was 20.
The cookbook author has alluded to not being happy with her childhood in the past. She told Al Roker that she wasn’t “allowed” to experiment in the kitchen when she was growing up.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP
“When I was growing up, I wasn’t allowed to cook,” she said during an episode of Roker’s “Cooking Up a Storm” podcast in 2021.
“I think my mother just wanted me in my room and she wanted the kitchen to herself. And so she said, ‘It’s your job to study, it’s my job to cook, and just get out of the kitchen.’ So, I kind of always wanted to do it,” Garten continued. “And I got married when I was 20, and I think that’s when I started to think I love cooking.”
Garten is not a classically trained chef but rather learned everything on her own. “I think what I was craving as a child is connecting with people, and I felt that if you feed them, they always show up and you have a good time together. And that was the connection I loved. So, I kept doing it over and over again,” she said of discovering her passion for cooking.
She also admitted previously to having a difficult relationship with food while she was growing up due to her mother restricting what she ate.
“My mother was obsessive about food. So, we weren’t allowed any carbs, we weren’t allowed any butter. We had margarine. … She just kind of got dinner on the table. … And her idea of a great dessert was an apple,” she said during an episode of Katie Couric’s podcast “Next Question” in 2017.
“It’s the ultimate rebellion,” she added of her chosen career path.