Ina Garten Reveals Why She Nearly Divorced Jeffrey Garten During Decades-Long Marriage

Ina Garten proved she is much more than a stereotype.

The Barefoot Contessa host revealed that she nearly divorced husband Jeffrey Garten during their decades-long marriage. And it all came down to the fact that she felt like she was playing the role of housewife.

“There were certain roles that we played, and I found them really annoying,” Ina told People Sept. 17. “I felt that if I just hit the pause button, I would get his attention.”

But the 76-year-old, who tied the knot with Jeffrey in December 1968, shared insight into the role her business played in their relationship dynamic after buying her specialty food store in Westhampton Beach.

"When I bought Barefoot Contessa, I shattered our traditional roles—­took a baseball bat to them and left them in pieces," she wrote in her memoir Be Ready When the Luck Happens—releasing Oct. 1. "While 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 should do, because I never got home from work!"

"I thought about it a lot, and at my lowest point, I wondered if the only answer would be to get a divorce," she continued. "I loved Jeffrey and didn’t want to shock—­or hurt—­him, so I’d start by suggesting we pause for a separation."

And amid feeling like they were “caught between two worlds,” the Food Network star pushed to break the mold of a “traditional ‘man and wife’ relationship,” and insisted that they see a therapist.

"Jeffrey’s willingness to see the therapist was as significant as anything that might happen during their session," she wrote. "He was that determined to convince me he was serious about making our marriage work."

And luckily, the couple is stronger than ever as they prepare to reach 56 years of marriage this December.

"Six weeks passed. We talked, we listened, and more important, we heard each other when we aired our concerns,” she continued. “Moving forward, we could be equals who took care of each other. It wouldn’t happen overnight, but if we worked toward the same goal, we could change things together."

As for where it all started, the two knew it was love at first sight after first laying eyes on each other in a college library. And that very same day, the Yale alum took her on their first date.

"After the date, Jeffrey said to his roommate, 'Are you interested?' 'Oh no, I've known her since I was 5,'" Ina recalled in a 2018 episode of Sunday Sitdown With Willie Geist. "So he asked if he could write to me. And he wrote me a letter...I remember running through the house—he sent me a photograph—and I remember saying, 'Mom, mom, this guy's adorable!'"

But despite Ina’s confession that she didn’t expect a second date, their love would prevail for years to come.  

"I had no idea I needed fake ID to get into a bar when I was 16," she admitted on The Drew Barrymore Show in November 2022. "So many years later, I said [to Jeffrey], 'What did you think? Why would you want to take me out again?' He said, 'I thought you needed taking care of.' Which is so sweet, and he was so right."

Believe it or not, Ina and Jeffrey aren’t the only duo that have stood the test of time. Keep reading to see other celebrity couples that have been together for over 50 years.

She's a superstar performer known around the world. He's a private man who stays away from the spotlight. But together, they've built a marriage that has lasted more than 56 years. "I like it when people say, 'How did it last so long?'" Dolly told ET Canada in December 2022. "I say, 'It's stay going.' There's a lot to be said about that. So we're not in each other's face all the time. He's not in the business, so we have different interests, but yet we have the things we love to do together. So it was meant to be. He was the one I was supposed to have and vice versa."

There's no breaking the bond of these college sweethearts. "In the beginning, we always said the most revolutionary thing that Black people could do was stay together, raise their children with the nucleus of having a father and a mother, since everybody likes to pretend that that's not the dynamic of the African American family," LaTanya told People in March 2022. "That it's just children out here being raised by women, which we know is false. In order to change that narrative, we made a decision to say, ‘We are going to stay together no matter what. We'll figure it out.'"

When you find joy in life's daily activities, Bonnie says your marriage could last forever. "We're very happy," she told People when celebrating 72 years of marriage in January. "We sit in this house and we do things. He reads his New York Times and he does Cameos mostly. And we do conventions and things like that. We just like to be with each other. And we would do anything for each other."

These high school sweethearts celebrated their 50th anniversary in November 2020. "There's no technique," Ron told People just one year earlier. "There's no tactic other than communication is really important. You have to learn to communicate and have difficult conversations in constructive ways."

After meeting during a production of West Side Story in the '60s, this couple continues to savor every moment together with gratitude. "Every once in a while, I'll be looking out the window, and I'll think, 'I feel pretty good,'" Christopher told New York Times Magazine in February 2022. "My bills are paid, my wife is healthy, the weather's nice. That's really all I care about: when, apropos of nothing, I happen to look out the window and think, 'This is good.'"

After 65 years of marriage, the couple has found their groove away from the spotlight in Long Island, New York. In an interview with The New Yorker, Alan said he and his wife enjoy playing chess during the day and ladder ball before dusk. Then, it's a nice dinner and a quality TV show.  It's not noisy in the country," he said in June 2022. "I don't have to show up places. Places come to me."

Through sickness and in health! After Martin recovered from a heart attack and nervous breakdown in the late '70s, he recalled a few words his wife told him. "It was very serious, and she handled it like a pro," he told Closer Weekly in 2016. "She had me laughing in the most dire circumstances. She said, 'Don't take yourself so seriously.' Every day is a celebration with this dame."

After meeting in 1971, Lily and Jane have been inseparable. When asked to share advice for other couples, Lily kept it simple. "We all have a secret," Lily told reporters in 2019. "It's just the secret is that you're committed and care and you want it to work out. You don't want to walk away from something that's important."