Ina Garten's fans are well aware how in love Garten and her husband, Jeffrey, are. Jeffrey has made his fair share of appearances on Garten's show "Barefoot Contessa" and on her social media — and they always appear very happy together. Plus, let's not forget about the entire cookbook that Garten wrote for her husband, "Cooking for Jeffrey.
" With all this in mind, no one was prepared for the news that Garten and Jeffrey were once separated. As reported by People , in her upcoming memoir "Be Ready When the Luck Happens," Garten reveals that she was unhappy in her marriage for some time, mostly due to the constraints of traditional gender roles, leading to some time apart in the '70s. Garten writes in her memoir, "When I bought Barefoot Contessa [the specialty food store], I shattered our traditional roles.
" She relocated from D.C. to the Hamptons, and the business took up all of her time — even on the weekends when Jeffrey would commute up to New York to visit her.
She also admits that "Jeffrey was fully formed and living the life he wanted to live. I wasn't, and I wouldn't be able to figure out who I was or what I wanted unless I was on my own. I needed that freedom.
" So, she asked him for a separation. "It was the hardest thing I ever did. I told him that I needed to be on my own.
I didn't say whether it was for now ...
or forever. In true Jeffrey form, he said, 'If you feel like you need to be on your own, you need to do it.'" Garten and Jeffrey — thankfully — recon.