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13 Things Ina Garten Didn't Tell You About Her Husband Jeffrey

Further proof he's the husband of your dreams

While writing our recent ode to the Barefoot Contessa, we realized that for as much as we adore him, we really didn’t know much about Jeffrey Garten. So we got to researching and we’re here to tell you, the guy’s awesome. Here, 13 things Ina never told us about this total gem of a husband.

How Ina Garten Peels an Onion (Better Than You)


1. He’s Dean Emeritus at the Yale School of Management.
Now he teaches classes there.

2. He’s written five books on the global political economy.
Fun fact: He writes the first drafts of his books mostly by hand.

3. He’s been published in The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, The Wall Street Journal and others.
How fabulous is that?

4. That’s Dr. Garten to you.
After getting his undergraduate degree at Dartmouth, he went to Johns Hopkins for an M.A. and Ph.D.

jeffrey ina
Sonia Moskowitz/Getty Images

5. He has disliked only one of Ina’s dishes in nearly 50 years together.
It was fish stew.

6. He was Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade in the Clinton administration.
He also held senior positions in the Nixon, Ford and Carter administrations.

7. He served in the U.S. Army from 1968 to 1972.
He held the rank of lieutenant in the 82nd Airborne Division and captain and aide-de-camp to the commanding general of the U.S. Special Forces.

8. He was an advisor to the Royal Thai Army.
So yeah, he’s fluent in Thai.

9. He met Ina when he was just 17 years old.
She was 15, and they married five years later.

10. He was a managing director of Lehman Brothers and the Blackstone Group.
And his net worth is reportedly $100 million.

11. He once mistakenly bought a cabbage instead of lettuce.
Silly Jeffrey!


12. He and Ina have always been adorable.
No surprise there.

13. And best of all, he’s the subject of her next cookbook.
It’s out October 25! *Preorders on Amazon*



sarah stiefvater

Wellness Director

Sarah Stiefvater is PureWow's Wellness Director. She's been at PureWow for ten years, and in that time has written and edited stories across all categories, but currently focuses...