The Real Reason Giada De Laurentiis and Todd Thompson Divorced
For Food Network fans, there’s no doubt who their favorite Italian on TV is: Giada De Laurentiis. For years, we’ve been watching Giada whip up quick, fresh, and delicious-looking Italian cuisine for her friends and family (and she’s also taught us the proper pronunciation of a variety of Italian dishes, too). And it’s not just her food that’s drawn viewers in. While we originally watched to see what she was cooking, we also loved seeing glimpses of her daughter, Jade, and hearing about her husband, Todd.
Several years ago, Giada and her husband, Todd Thompson, divorced after over a decade of marriage. Here’s what we know.
Todd and Giada had been together since Giada was 19 years old
On the Food Network, Giada would frequently mention her husband and his favorite dishes — but many don’t know just how long the two have known each other. According to Heavy, Giada and Todd were together for over 20 years and married for over a decade. They tied the knot in 2003 — and Giada had to teach Todd everything he knows about food in the interim (he’s a fashion designer and evidently knows little about cuisine). As she’s stated in the past, “My husband was used to opening cans — Chef Boyardee, frozen food, whatever. He didn’t know much about cooking, bless his soul.”
She’s also mentioned that food was a way for her to show him how much he meant to her over the years. Giada explained that she was in college and totally broke when they first met, so while he would pay for them to go out to eat, she would make him home-cooked meals.
Giada said their divorce was amicable, but there may have been other factors at play
Fans were shocked when Giada first announced her divorce to Todd — but it turns out it was a huge decision that was long in the making. According to E! News, Giada and Todd had been separated for months prior to their divorce. And when Giada finally announced their split on social media, she claimed it was totally amicable. As she wrote in a statement, “Although our decision to separate comes with a great deal of sadness, our focus on the future and overwhelming desire for our family’s happiness has given us the strength to move forward on separate, yet always connected paths.”
E! News also notes that Todd cited irreconcilable differences, and while their divorce could have been a simple matter of no longer getting along anymore, seems Giada may have dropped some hints in the past that Todd wasn’t always a fan of her fame and fortune. She spoke to Redbook back in 2011 and stated, “I think it can be hard for any man to sometimes be upstaged by his wife. So when I’m home, I work very hard to be Todd’s wife and Jade’s mother.” She also added, “I try to be Giada, the young girl that he met 20 years ago and fell in love with. All men want to be treated like kings in a relationship, and I think if women don’t indulge that sometimes, their men are likely to stray and look for someone who can give that to them.”
The John Mayer scandal also could have put a rift in their marriage
It’s rare that Giada is in the tabloids for anything scandalous, and that’s what made the John Mayer allegations all the more shocking. Back in 2011, Heavy reminds us there were rumors that Giada was associated with the singer in a romantic way — but she’s completely denied it all and spoken at length regarding how such rumors can be seriously damaging.
As she told Redbook, “The John Mayer incident was completely unexpected. I was shocked. And not so much for me, but for my husband and family.” She went on to explain that while her close family was used to hearing rumors, Todd’s family wasn’t — and that’s where the real trouble was. In regards to the rumors, Giada added, “I know these things happen, but maybe I was naive to think that they are usually based on some facts.”
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