In her new memoir Be Ready When the Luck Happens, Ina Garten gets personal, and shares some surprising details of what some believe is a picture-perfect marriage to her husband Jeffrey.
Ina, 76, and Jeffrey, 77, have been married for over 50 years, but Ina revealed that the two once hit a snag when Ina began running the Barefoot Contessa. In an excerpt from the book shared to People, Ina revealed that once the traditional "husband and wife" roles felt more burdensome to her, as a businesswoman and a cook, she and Jeffrey opted to take a pause from their marriage.
When she was operating the store, Ina lived in D.C., while Jeffrey stayed in the Hamptons, but would visit Ina on weekends.
"While I was still cooking, cleaning, shopping, managing at the store, I was doing it as a businesswoman, not a wife," Garten wrote. "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!"
Ina continued, saying she even considered getting a divorce. Jeffrey, however, suggested they took a pause.
"It was the hardest thing I ever did," Ina said. "I told him that I needed to be on my own. I didn't say whether it was for now... for forever. In true Jeffrey form, he said, 'If you feel like you need to be on your own, you need to do it.' He packed his bag and went home to Washington with no plan to come back. I buried my emotions and threw myself into my work."
Ina took a break from working in the shop, and returned home to the Hamptons, before Jeffrey left on a six-week work trip. Jeffrey asked Ina what he needed to do in order for her to stay. She told him that he would need to see a therapist before she would consider changing her mind. Fortunately, Jeffrey obliged, and the famed couple have since emerged stronger than ever.
"Jeffrey's willingness to see the therapist was as significant as anything that might happen during their session," Garten said. "He was that determined to convince me he was serious about making our marriage work."
Be Ready When the Luck Happens arrives to shelves Tuesday, October 1.
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