Ina Garten says husband would have 'loved' having kids but he wants her 'happy' (2024)

• Family

Garten and her husband Jeffrey have been married for over five decades.

Ina Garten is opening up about her decision not to have kids.

During a recent appearance on Julia Louis-Dreyfus' podcast "Wiser Than Me," the Food Network star got candid about having "no interest in having children" and how her husband Jeffrey Garten has been supportive of her choice.

"I just had a terrible childhood, and it was nothing I wanted to recreate," she explained, saying her decision "wasn't a struggle at all."

"I think Jeffrey would have been a great parent," she continued. "He would have really loved having children. But, he wanted me to be happy, and it was OK with him."

Looking back, after seeing her friends with their children, she said, "I understand what it could be. But when I was 20, I didn't want to have anything to do with it."

"I don't know where that certainty came from, but I was really sure of that," she added.

In an interview with People earlier this month to promote her upcoming memoir, "Be Ready When the Luck Happens," Ina Garten shared the romantic gesture her husband made early in their romance.

"Jeffrey used to write letters to me when we first met, when I was in high school. And then through college. And then when he was in the military, he would write to me almost every day," she recalled. "And I kept all those letters."

Ina and Jeffrey Garten have been married for over 50 years, having tied the knot in 1968.

Throughout their marriage, the couple have lived in many places together including Paris, Washington, D.C., Manhattan and East Hampton, New York.