Inside Ina Gartens Haunting Struggles… After She Vulnerably Opened Up About Not Having Kids

Long before Ina Garten became one of the Food Network’s biggest stars, she endured an abusive childhood that was so bad that she feared her father would kill her.

The beloved cook and celebrated author, 77, has often spoken about the trauma she faced at the hands of her parents, Charles and Florence Rosenberg, and previously described her formative years as a ‘very cold, lonely existence.’

After enduring years of physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her father and being restricted by her mother, Ina was only pulled out of the darkness after meeting her husband, Jeffrey.

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Shortly after they wed, Ina knew that she didn’t ever want to have kids of her own because she didn’t want to recreate her childhood.

Having made headlines earlier this week after further discussing her decision to not have childrenDaily Mail takes a look back through Ina’s difficult early years – and how she was eventually able to make peace with her abusive father.

Ina grew up in Stamford, Connecticut with her older brother Ken, who also was a victim of her dad’s abuse. She spent most of her time locked in her bedroom.

Ina discussed her childhood in her 2024 memoir, Be Ready When the Luck Happens.

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In an interview with former Today show co-host Hoda Kotb while promoting the memoir, she described her younger years as ‘cold’ and ‘lonely,’ and said she was ‘so restricted’ as a child by her parents, Charles and Florence.

When Hoda asked Ina what would happen if she ‘scraped her knee’ as a child, the author replied, ‘No hugs and kisses in my family, it was a very cold, lonely existence,’ before admitting she’s ‘not sure’ that she even knew if her mother loved her.

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‘I don’t know that she was capable. I was really so restricted as a child. I was always told, whatever I wanted to do wasn’t a good idea, so I wasn’t myself,’ Ina explained, as Hoda touched upon the physical abuse inflicted by her father.

Ina previously told People magazine that she was afraid of her father and even believed that he would kill her as he would hit her and pull her hair if she did something he disapproved of.

Speaking to the publication, she said: ‘I was terrified. I was physically afraid of my dad. I literally remember thinking he would kill me if I did something.

‘I was physically afraid of him. And my mother just was unsupportive.’

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Ina added: ‘If there’s a threat of violence, you’re always afraid, even when it’s not happening. So I basically spent my entire childhood in my bedroom with a door closed.

‘I think it was just protection. It was just to keep myself safe.’

In her 2024 memoir, she also revealed that she did not just suffer abuse from her father but also her mother.

She told People that despite calling her bedroom a ‘safe haven,’ she was not able to make the color what she wanted – which was purple – and was made to have it peach as her mom Florence told her it would ‘turn out badly.’

Ina added: ‘It was something she said to me a lot. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was diagnosed with Asperger’s (Syndrome).

‘She really didn’t know how to have a relationship, which is why I think, as I’ve gotten older, having relationships is so important to me.’

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Ina said her dietician mother restricted her eating as a child and didn’t let her cook – despite her falling in love with the activity from a young age.

Instead, the Barefoot Contessa taught herself to be a professional cook by studying Julia Child’s cookbook.

In 2017, she told Katie Couric on her Next Question podcast that becoming a cook felt like the ‘ultimate rebellion’ against her ‘obsessive’ mother, who spent years controlling her diet.

‘My mother was obsessive about food,’ she shared at the time. ‘So, we weren’t allowed any carbs, we weren’t allowed any butter. We had margarine. And her idea of a great dessert was an apple.’

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She reflected on her childhood again in 2021 on Al Roker’s podcast, Cooking Up A Storm, explaining that she turned to cooking because she ‘craved connection’ as a kid.

Ina noted that her childhood hell ended when she met her husband at the age of 16.

She has been married to her husband, 79, since 1968, and the couple have been together for than 50 years.

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They share a home in East Hampton, New York, where she shot her iconic Barefoot Contessa series.

‘Everything changed when I met Jeffrey,’ Ina said.

They dated for four years before they married in 1968 – when Ina was 20 – despite her mother’s reservations.

Ina explained: ‘(My mother) thought I was too young to get married.

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‘But it was the first time in my life when I just said to her, “I know you don’t think this is a good idea. And for the first time, I’m really sorry to tell you this, but I don’t care. I’m doing this.”

While speaking to the BBC in 2023, the cook explained that she decided soon after she tied the knot that she didn’t want to have any kids.

She said: ‘Looking back, I realize a lot of my decisions were based on my childhood. That was really the motivating factor. And Jeffrey and I were just so happy together.’

Earlier this week, Ina revealed about her decision not to have children, sharing why she can’t imagine her life ‘any other way.’

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During an hour-long appearance on Amy Poehler’s Good Hang podcast, she was asked what the best thing is about not having children.

Ina responded with a laugh: ‘Not being responsible for them, not having teenagers.’

Amy then noted that multiple studies show that married couples without children are the happiest.

‘It’s amazing to me that I made that decision so young, and that thank God, Jeffrey was okay with it, but I just can’t imagine my life any other way,’ Ina continued.

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‘I’ve done what I wanted to do, I’ve had a wonderful time.’

On the outside, Ina’s marriage has looked picture perfect every step of the way.

But her nuptials haven’t been entirely smooth-sailing.

Last year, Ina shared that she briefly separated from her husband after she launched her cooking empire in the 1970s because he ‘expected’ her to play a ‘certain role’ and felt she wasn’t ‘paying enough attention to him.’

Ina explained that after she started running her own business, she realized she couldn’t ‘live with him in the traditional ‘man and wife’ relationship any .

‘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.

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‘While I was still cooking, cleaning, shopping, managing at the store, I was doing it as a businesswoman, not a wife.

‘I just couldn’t live with him in a traditional “man and wife” relationship. Jeffrey hadn’t done anything wrong.

‘He was just doing what every man before him had done. But we were living in a new era, and that behavior wasn’t OK with me any . I had changed.’

Ina revealed that she considered divorcing Jeffrey, but in the end, opted for a separation as she took time to figure out what she really wanted.

In the end, she suggested that Jeffrey see a therapist, and he agreed, which changed everything for them.

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They spent six weeks apart before they ultimately decided to give their love another go as ‘equals.’

Additionally, Ina was able to make peace with her father before his death in 2004.

The same, however, did not extend to her mother, who died in 2006.

The television star told People: ‘He, in his own way, apologized and my mom never acknowledged it. I think I overcame my childhood just by sheer determination.’

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