When Ina Garten entertains, she cooks almost exclusively from her own recipes, which she has tested thoroughly. Her culinary style has been guided by the principle that people tend to want to eat things they know, but better—lavishly executed comfort food.
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.
Ina Garten's upbringing was not anything she wanted to recreate with her own family. In her new memoir, Be Ready When the Luck Happens, the Barefoot Contessa star reveals that her "horrible childhood" in Stamford, Conn., was filled with emotional and physical abuse from her late parents, Charles and Florence Rosenberg.
They divide their time living in Manhattan, East Hampton, and Paris. Registered in New York as a Democrat, Garten has contributed to the presidential campaign funds of George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, John Kerry, and Barack Obama. In 2004, she hosted a benefit for Planned Parenthood.
The couple dated for five years before tying the knot in 1968 in her parents' Connecticut backyard when she was 20 and he was 22. Early on, Ina, 76, and Jeffrey, 77, decided not to have kids.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Ina Garten's net worth in 2025 is estimated at $60 million. When combined with that of her husband Jeffrey, that amount is estimated at a whopping $120 million. Aside from the riches from her TV show, Garten has been a longtime bestselling author thanks to her 13 books (and counting).
In November, Garten told BBC News that her childhood was the largest factor in her decision against having children. "It was nothing I wanted to re-create," she told the publication. "And I'm always looking forward to look back and realized a lot of my decisions were based on my childhood.
Garten had written in her memoir. “Ina said that they fell out because she moved to Connecticut,” Mr. Cohen said.
Ina Garten is a Jewish American author and host of the Food Network program Barefoot Contessa. She is known for designing her recipes with an emphasis on fresh ingredients and time-saving tips.
"What I didn't like about running Barefoot Contessa was overshadowing what I used to love," Garten writes, adding, "I felt that I wasn't doing anything new, and I certainly wasn't bringing any creativity to my work." By the point of feeling "pretty miserable," she made the decision to sell the successful specialty ...
You can be miserable before you have a cookie and you can be miserable after you eat a cookie but you can't be miserable while you are eating a cookie. Food is about nurturing: not only physical but also emotional nurturing.
He also served in the United States Army from 1968 to 1972, during the Vietnam War, holding the rank of Lieutenant in the 82nd Airborne Division and Captain and aide-de camp to the commanding general of the US Special Forces.
While Ina Garten has never had her own restaurant, she did own and operate a specialty food store called Barefoot Contessa from the late 1970s to 1996.
“My friend Bobby Flay is here spending the entire day with me, which is so great,” Garten starts, smiling at Flay across the table. “I don't really need to introduce him because everybody knows who he is.”
Per her website, she likes her hot cereal with a little butter and maple syrup, which are definitely tasty toppings for a better breakfast. While those toppings are pretty conventional, the appliance she uses to cook her oatmeal is anything but, for a chef. The cookbook author revealed she uses her microwave.
Unhelpfully though, most of those opinions are just “They're great!” Truth is no one will ever go wrong with any of Ina Garten's cookbooks. Her taste level is excellent, and the recipes work every. single.
Speaking of style, it turns out Ina's quite loyal when it comes to footwear. The Food Network star was spotted in Paris wearing what are apparently her go-to walking shoes: the popular Allbirds Wool Runners.
Ina Garten says 'cooking is really hard' for her because she never received formal training. Ina Garten said that she's "not a confident cook" in an interview with Page Six. Garten added that her lack of classical training can make cooking "really hard" for her.
While Garten sold her shop to two former employees in 1996 and never opened another store or restaurant, she has released some very limited food items in the decades since.
Garten first addressed the alleged feud in her new memoir, which was released in October 2024. She blamed the distance between the domestic divas over actual distance—specifically, Stewart's move out of New York City in 1971.
As a working woman in the '70s, Ina's choice to not have kids “wasn't a struggle at all,” she said. “I had no interest in having children. None. I just had a terrible childhood, and it was nothing I wanted to recreate,” she added.
Nowadays, she has some injectables that are called neurotoxins thast relax her face and are partly responsible for her great looks. Stewart praised some of her attributes, including her neck and her jawline. “I have a nice neck for my age,” she said.
In an interview with PEOPLE, Garten, 76, recalls being afraid of her father, a surgeon, who would hit her and pull her hair if she did something he disapproved of. "I was terrified," says the Barefoot Contessa star. "I was physically afraid of my dad. I literally remember thinking he would kill me if I did something.
Ina Garten, chef and host of the Food Network show “Barefoot Contessa,” has been taking heat for twice rejecting a child's Make-a-Wish request.
Barefoot Contessa, the 400-square-foot shop in Westhampton Beach, New York, that Garten purchased in 1978, closed more than two decades ago -- she actually sold the business in the mid-'90s.