Ina Garten Shares How She and Taylor Swift Became Friends: ‘I Just So Fell in Love With Her’
How did Ina Garten and Taylor Swift become friends? Garten shared how they first got to know each other and everything clicked for them to become lifelong friends.
Ina Garten shared how she and Taylor Swift became friends
During an Oct. 25 appearance on the Today show, Garten was asked about how she came to know and become such good friends with Swift.
“I did a photoshoot with Taylor and we cooked together,” the Food Network host explained. “And I just so fell in love with her. She was 25.”
Garten continued, “And, actually the first time I saw her was [on the Today show]. “She was like 16, she was on the plaza. And I remember my assistant and I hanging out at the upstairs window like two teenagers, just going, ‘Oh my god, she’s amazing!’”
When host Hoda Kotb pointed out that people react the same way to Garten, the Barefoot Contessa said, “I don’t think we’re in the same category.”
Taylor Swift shared her love of Ina Garten
In the November 2022 issue of Food Network Magazine, Swift shared just how much Garten means to her.
“I’ve been lucky enough to meet Ina a few times and get to know the magnificent woman behind the TV show and the cookbooks,” Swift wrote. “She’s one of those people who is even better, funnier, warmer than you’d hoped her to be.”
Swift explained how Garten impacted her life. “My most potent memories of Ina come from when I first discovered her TV show. I was in my teens, and my life revolved around touring,” the singer shared. “On my rare days off at home, I barely ever cooked because it had always felt like a chore. Watching Ina prepare a meal changed my perspective on cooking and reframed it as something relaxing.”
Swift added, “She made cooking feel like self-care. Ever since, cooking has been my escape from stress and one of the only ways I can truly calm myself on a rough day. I’ll always be grateful to her for giving me that.”
Ina Garten once gushed about how ‘unbelievable’ her famous friend is
During a Dec. 11 chat with Katie Couric, Garten shared her adoration of Swift.
“Isn’t she unbelievable? She’s so, so smart and what is extraordinary about her is she keeps her own counsel,” Garten said. “She knows exactly what she wants to do, her mother is her manager, and I’m sure she gets ideas and works with a lot of people but she knows exactly … she makes the decision.”
The Barefoot Contessa star continued, “I’m sure there must be a million people trying to pull her off her game or get her to do something else and she knows just what she wants to do. And that’s why it comes out the way it does.”
She added, “And Taylor writes from her own experience, which you feel. You just know.”
