Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager reacted to Ina Garten's statement that she was briefly separated from her husband, Jeffrey Garten, in the 1970s.
Kotb, 60, recently Sit-down interview Ina, 76, recalled telling her husband of 10 years at the time that she “needed to be alone for a little while,” to which Jeffrey, 77, agreed.
“I thought I said the right thing, but it was really scary because I said it to someone I really loved very much,” Ina — who details the separation in her upcoming memoir, “Be Ready When the Luck Happens” — told Kotb.
But Wednesday's “TODAY with Hoda and Jenna” Kotb and Bush Hager, 42, praised the Food Network star for putting herself first in their marriage.
“It seems like the root of what happened was that he was used to playing the traditional wife role, and she was stepping in on her own to start her own business,” Kotb said. “She was putting all of her baggage into him and he was expecting her to do what she did before, which was, 'The food's here, I'll talk about taking care of the house,' and things like that.”
Kotb added, “I think hearing her reminded me that when a couple moves on, you have to let the other person move on as well, you hear people say, ‘You’re not the girl I married.’ Well, the girl you married is different.”
“They got reacquainted with each other and now they have a solid, beautiful love story.”
Bush Hager added, “It shows honesty, being completely transparent with yourself and someone else, even though it's very scary. I'm sure a part of him wanted her to say, 'No, we have to work this out. You don't have to cook.' But he was like, 'OK.'”
Former First Daughter He also said that Ina accepted her “price” when she decided to separate from Jeffrey for a while.
“She knew she wanted more than dinner at five,” Bush Hager said. “She was willing to stand up for herself, and maybe lose it, to pursue her dreams. Look at her now. And them.”
Kotb told her co-hosts that she asked Ina why the first chapter of her memoir (published Oct. 1) was about Jeffrey rather than her childhood.
Kotb said the chef told her, “My life began with Jeffrey.”
Ina and Jeffrey have been married since 1968.
In a recent interview PeopleIna revealed that the couple's one-time separation was because she was dissatisfied with her “role” in their marriage.
The “Barefoot Contessa” host said Jeffrey, now a professor at Yale, “expected a wife who could cook dinner.” But as their careers flourished, their friendship changed, and Ina asked Jeffrey if they could live apart for a while.
“I thought about it a lot, and at my most vulnerable point, I wondered if divorce was the only solution,” she wrote in her book. “I loved Jeffrey and didn't want to shock or hurt him, so I suggested we take some time apart.”
“It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I told him I needed to be alone. I didn't tell him if it was for now or forever,” Ina said.
The celebrity chef said that after seeing a therapist and spending some time apart, he and Jeffrey were able to happily reconcile.
