While many fans may think they know all about celebrated culinary host and bestselling cookbook author Ina Garten, she recently revealed untold moments from her childhood while sharing new details about her forthcoming memoir, "Be Ready When the Luck Happens."
"I had a pretty difficult life at home so my friends were like a lifeline for me," Garten wrote in an Instagram post Sunday alongside a 60-year-old photo with her high school friend Janet Sloatman Files. "They were smart, creative and so supportive. This is a picture of Janet and me on a beach in New Jersey where her parents were vacationing. I had just met Jeffrey so my guess is that I’m writing a letter to him!"
Garten, 76, told People in a new interview that she penned stories about her tumultuous relationship with her late parents Charles and Florence Rosenberg for the first time in her newest title.
"I was terrified," the "Barefoot Contessa" star told the outlet. "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."
Garten, who grew up with older brother Ken Rosenberg in Connecticut, said she spent most of her time locked in her bedroom.
"I think I overcame my childhood just by sheer determination," Garten said. "I just wasn't about to spend my life like that. And I think, a lot of times, people make a decision to live their lives differently and they end up sliding back into what they feel is familiar, and I was determined not to do that. And then I met Jeffrey, and he just showed me a totally different way to live."
Known best for the lifestyle portion of her career, in which she lets millions of viewers into her East Hampton home through shows on Food Network and Discovery Plus, sharing everything from kitchen secrets to hosting tips, Garten's new book from Crown Publishing Group will share another side of the James Beard Award recipient's life.
"By finding a way to do what I love for a living -- cooking -- I've been fortunate to build a career that has not only been incredibly rewarding but has brought people together through the power of home cooking. I hope my book will inspire readers to find their own unique story," Garten said in a statement when the memoir was first announced.
"Be Ready When the Luck Happens," from Crown Publishing Group, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House, is out Oct. 1.
