Ina Garten Reveals Why She Never Wanted Kids & Says Jeffrey Would Have Made A 'Great Parent' (2024)

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Ina Garten Reveals Why She Never Wanted Kids & Says Jeffrey Would Have Made A 'Great Parent'? ›

"He would have really loved having children, but he wanted to make me happy and it was okay with him," she revealed. Jeffrey has also been a supportive partner in more ways than one. Garten's longtime husband was actually a driving force behind her culinary career path.

Born Ina Rosenberg to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York City and grew up in Stamford, Connecticut, Garten was one of two children born to Charles H. Rosenberg, a surgeon specializing in otolaryngology, and his wife, Florence (née Rich), a dietitian.

Currently, Jeffrey serves as the Dean Emeritus at the Yale School of Management and teaches courses on the global economy. According to his faculty page, prior to joining Yale, he worked for multiple White House administrations, served in the U.S. Army Special Forces and was a managing director on Wall Street.

Garten first became wealthy thanks to real estate. Before becoming famous, she purchased, renovated and flipped old homes, which gave her the funds to buy her original Barefoot Contessa shop. After Barefoot Contessa closed, she retained ownership of the property, garnering income from new tenants.

Ina and Jeffrey Garten have been married for over 50 years, having tied the knot in 1968.

In a new interview for Julia Louis-Dreyfus' podcast, Wiser Than Me, Garten admitted that it "wasn't a struggle at all" to decide against having children. "I had no interest in having children," she told Louis-Dreyfus. "I had a terrible childhood, and it was nothing I wanted to recreate.

Garten is Jewish by birth and heritage, as is her husband, but rarely refers to her religion and ethnicity, though they are showcased through the inclusion of classic Jewish cooking in her television show and cookbooks, when she makes such dishes as rugelach, challah, and brisket.

Ina husband, Jeffrey, is also a financial powerhouse. According to Celebritynetworth.com, Jeffrey is worth $100 million, mostly thanks to his former jobs as managing director of Lehman Brothers and Blackstone Group.

Garten. Jeffrey E. Garten was dean of the school from November 1995 to June 2005 and has been teaching at the school since he stepped down.

Garten, to our knowledge, is not an actual countess (contessa is Italian for countess) and is usually wearing shoes (normally flats) on her show. The name of the show comes from a specialty food store she bought in 1978, after her stint as a nuclear policy analyst in the White House.

What is Ina Garten's favorite meal? ›

Instead of a chicken pot pie, Ina Garten likes to make a chicken stew and top it with flaky biscuits. She names it as one of her all-time favorite comfort foods, and we can easily see why. We think she would approve of this soup version on a cold night.

Ina Garten once worked in the White House and worked her way up, which eventually put her in charge of writing the nuclear budget for the United States. She also managed to earn her MBA from George Washington University at the same time. Despite her success, she decided she wanted a different life.

Several years ago, Garten built a second kitchen in a barn on her property so she could have somewhere to film episodes of Barefoot Contessa (she told Oprah Daily all about it in 2021). But Garten's home kitchen, where she still cooks meals for friends and family, has remained untouched for 25 years—at least until now.

Her fame may be relatively quiet — she doesn't have a line of cookware, there isn't a namesake restaurant — but make no mistake: Ina Garten is a powerhouse celeb chef.

For over 20 years, Ina Garten has shared her comforting and foolproof recipes with the world through her beloved cookbooks and "Barefoot Contessa" show. But before becoming a Food Network star, Garten wrote budgets at the White House and ran a Hamptons grocery store. Here's her incredible life story.

“So many people ask, 'What does Barefoot Contessa mean?' ” Garten wrote on her blog back in 2018. “It was the original name of my specialty food store after a movie with Ava Gardner and Humphrey Bogart. But for me, it means being both elegant and earthy…”

Ina Garten may not be Southern (we wish she were), but she is a fantastic cook, with tips and tricks that every home cook can appreciate.