Ina Garten has opened up about the time her father grabbed her hair and dragged her across a room as a child, admitting she was ‘terrified’ he would kill her.
In a revealing interview with Today host Hoda Kotb, the 76-year-old beloved cook described her younger years as “cold” and “lonely” and said she was “so restricted” as a child by her parents, Charles. and Florence Rosenberg.
When Hoda, 60, asked Ina what would happen if she “scraped her knee” as a child, the writer – who was promoting her new memoir Be Ready When the Luck Happens – replied: “No hugs and kisses in my family, it was a very cold, lonely existence,” before admitting that she is “not sure” if she even knew if her mother loved her.
‘I don’t know if she was capable of that. As a child I was really so limited. I was always told that whatever I wanted to do wasn’t a good idea, so I wasn’t myself,” Ina explained, as Hoda addressed the physical abuse inflicted by her father.
“I think I was terrified that he was going to kill me, and what I realize now is that I’m surprised that I didn’t have the courage to fight back as a child,” she said, before sharing that he told her: ‘No one will ever love you.’
Ina Garten has opened up about the time her father grabbed her by the hair and dragged her across a room as a child
Ina, seen here with her father, Charles Rosenberg, on her wedding day in 1968, said she was ‘terrified’ he would kill her
‘Isn’t that wonderful? He was angry about something, I have no idea what. He said, “No one will ever love you.” You know what I like? I love walking up Madison Avenue and someone leans in and says, “I love you.” It’s a great cosmic joke to me, it’s like, ‘Oops, I guess he was wrong.’
Ina further confirmed that her father apologized much later in her life, as she recalled: “He just turned to me and said, ‘I don’t know what I was thinking.’ And I thought, “Wow, he’s been torturing himself all this time.” It meant he said, “I’m sorry.” I thought that was incredibly difficult for a father to say.”
However, she has never had such a conversation with her mother, Florence, and says she isn’t even sure she “acknowledges” her career.
Referring to her father’s appreciation of her work, she said, “I think he always watched the shows I was doing, and I think he was aware of the books. I don’t think my mother ever really understood it, but it was her loss.’
Speaking about her parents’ death, she added: ‘I think I’ve been separated from them so many times that it hasn’t had a huge impact on me. I was sadder about my father than I expected. My mother and I never had anything. I did what I had to do, but I didn’t really lose much.’
Ina also revealed that she thought the reason she chose never to have children with her husband, Jeffrey, was partly due to her own unhappy childhood.
Ina explained why she finally decided to share her story in her new memoir: ‘I didn’t tell my parents’ story because I had such a terrible childhood. Many people have had bad childhoods, and this certainly wasn’t the worst.
“I wanted people to know that the story of your childhood doesn’t have to be the story of your life, that you can decide with enormous determination, ‘I’m going to do things differently.’
Ina (right) and her husband Jeffrey, pictured as children twelve years before they met
Ina talks to Savannah Guthrie (left) and Hoda Kotb on Today on Tuesday morning
In a recent interview with People magazine, Ina said that despite calling her nursery a “safe haven,” she wasn’t able to make it the color she wanted — which was purple — and was made peachy like her mother told her. it would ‘end badly’.
Ina added: ‘It was something she said to me often. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was diagnosed with Asperger’s [Syndrome].
“She really didn’t know how to be in a relationship. That’s why I think as I’ve gotten older, having relationships is so important to me.”