Ina Garten Reveals Why She Never Wanted Kids & Says Jeffrey Would Have Made A 'Great Parent'
In anticipation of Ina Garten's upcoming memoir debut, the Barefoot Contessa has been increasingly candid about her life and marriage. And while she's previously opened up about her decision to not have children, the cookbook author is revealing new details about what led to that choice—and whether Jeffrey was onboard.
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. I think now looking back, I see my friends with their children and I understand what it could be, but when I was 20, I didn't want anything to do with it... Maybe because when I was a kid, I didn't have any choices. Somebody else made all my choices. So once I had the power, I really used it."
Despite feeling confident about her decision, Garten says her husband Jeffrey "would have been 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.
"As soon as I got married, I remember looking around going, for the first time, I have nobody criticizing me, nobody telling me what to do. I can do whatever I want, and I just wanted to have parties. So I just started teaching myself how to cook," she said.
The television personality admits that she "was never allowed to cook" when she was a child, so she had never connected with it as a hobby in the past. It took advice from Jeffrey to finally pursue the passion.
"When I was a kid, I didn't even know I would do anything. I was kind of the generation that thought, 'Well, I'm gonna go to college and then I'll get married and that's that," she said. "It was Jeffrey who's like, you're not going to be happy.' And I was like, 'Woah.' It never even occurred to me...I totally credit him with that."
This isn't the first time Garten has opened up about her relationship—or choice to forgo motherhood. And it certainly won't be her last. Much of her upcoming memoir looks back at her childhood, which she did not want to "repeat" with kids of her own.
"I'm always looking forward to look back realized a lot of my decisions were based on my childhood. And so I think that was the motivating factor," she said late last year, adding that her and Jeffrey have always been "just so happy together" as is.
You Might Also Like
