Well, well, well. After years of blind items and sketchy tabloid reports, it seems that where there was smoke, there was fire. Giada de Laurentiis and her husband Todd Thompson have split after 11 years of marriage. If you watch Giada’s Food Network show, you’ve seen Giada cooking for Todd and his friends for years. He seemed to adore his wife, although… I don’t know, Todd just struck me as such an achingly vanilla guy. Giada brought all the spice to their marriage, you know? Giada and Todd have been together since they were kids, and they have one child, daughter Jade, together. Giada announced the split on Facebook:
After an amicable separation since July, Todd and I have decided to end our marriage. 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. Todd and I share a beautiful daughter and a lifetime of great memories that we both treasure more than anything. We are so thankful for our friends and family, and really appreciate the support in this time of change.
This is the thing to do these days – announce your split during the holidays. Chris Rock knows what I’m talking about. I guess celebrities think that people won’t be paying as close attention to them. I wonder how that works out for them.
Anyway…E! News has a detailed story full of old quotes about their marriage. Giada says her family used to give Todd a hard time because he’s not Italian, but they grew to love him. E! News points out that Giada works and travels a lot and that was probably pretty hard on them. E! also brought up the John Mayer rumors, which… I mean, I always suspected those stories were true. She denied it at the time though. Maybe they’re splitting because of Giada’s obsession with minuscule food portions.
Oh, and E! brought out this stupid old quote from Giada: “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. I have no problem going back to those traditional roles. 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. It’s simple. It’s not brain surgery.” Shut your pie hole, Giada.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Getty.
Yup. ‘Been waiting for this one.
She’s got a lot of chutzpah to presume to dole out marital advice while announcing her own divorce.
In fact, with the kind of stories that keep appearing about her, it takes a lot of nerve even to appear in public.
Wow, if I want to throw up my food after I eat it like she does, I’ll just read that quote again. Maybe that’s the key to her svelte figure.
Sorry to hear about the divorce, especially sad for the little girl, but not surprised. Here’s a little unsolicited advice – don’t marry a man who has such a fragile ego or shallow personality that he needs you to stay the same “girl” he met when he was 12. Marry somebody who can handle your growth and wants you to be the best you can be. Don’t pretend he’s a king – make him your partner and best friend. Be yourself.
Good advice, GNAT, and to quote Giada herself, “it’s not brain surgery” to be loving and supportive as people and relationships evolve.
Her split announcement seems straight out of Goop’s playbook, only those two now-famous words are missing.
Their daughter is adorable, I haven’t seen her since I last watched Giada’s show when she was just a baby. Time flies!
He probably could only take so much of G getting young dick thats what I am thinking. I heard she has cheated since day one, is an avid drug user ( I wonder why she’s never hungry? hmmm… ) and is a diva. Diva at home is no picnic so he probably put up with a lot.
I highly doubt for some reason she treated him like a King when she was home, she has an arrogant attitude, and being famous went to her head ( like it happens to 99.9% of the people).
“being famous went to her head”
That explains the size, I suppose?
Its like an orange on a toothpick
Bobblehead doll.
BOOM! Thank you, GNAT.
Sadly, she’s not the first woman to make absurd statements like “treat your man like a king” and she definitely won’t be the last.
Why would you want to set up a power imbalance like that? That sounds like an emotionally unhealthy dynamic.
How about mutual respect, admiration and love for each person in the relationship?
No one needs to be worshipped, but both should be treated equally.
“Why would you want to set up a power imbalance like that”
Exactly! IMO, what she is saying is that a woman takes care of her man…but IMO, in a healthy relationship you take care of each other! It’s a team effort.
@kitten right?? I mean, she makes it sound like going home from her breadwinner job to be subservient makes him feel better about his situation, and without treating him like a king, he’ll leave.
While you should probably leave any relationship where the person doesn’t treat you with utmost respect and love, I hope that both parties treat the other like royalty, and it’s not assumed to be one sided. Mr Wif is the first to tell me to put my feet up and rub my sad sore pregnant back, and nothing makes me happier than surprising him with a favorite meal, or not forgetting the hot sauce on the table. Both treated like royalty in their own way, both happy to receive and give. If either party is the sole courtier, I don’t see it lasting.
SO AGREE! Saying “treat him like a King” means you would be waiting on him hand and foot like a servent and expecting nothing in return. How demeaning and archaic. Why can’t you BOTH take care of each other? BOTH lighten the load for each other. BOTH make each other feel special. If someone said what she said to me in real life, I would think they had terrible self-esteem issues.
My man wants to be treated like a king. I think he would really like a woman like Giada. He wants a non-opinionated woman who serves him and doesn’t argue with him or try to give advice about how to do things. I’ve tried to comply but my real personality always ends up shining through. I’d like to think I’m not abrasive, but I like to give and get advice, see myself as an equal partner in relationships, and have always dated guys willing to entertain my thoughts in solving problems together.
So we will probably add ours to the list of holiday breakups but won’t announce it until after the holidays are over.
GNAT
Exactly! It’s not about those traditional roles. It’s a partner ship. And that partnership shouldn’t end when you travel for work. (It reads like she’s saying it does.) It can continue unless you don’t want it to. You don’t stop being a mom and wife when working abroad.
moomoo
That’s too bad, but great you realized it’s not working.
Giada isn’t the woman you described. That’s a role she plays because she thinks it’s what guys want. Even ignoring the rumors of her and other guys she’s admitted to playing the role of a submissive woman, but it’s only a role and not a trait.
“All men want to be treated like kings” is that why according to rumours Giada was always bowing (kneeling)down to John Mayer on his throne?
lol. seriously. way to “blame” the husband (although who knows what he’s been up to) – while she was the one allegedly having affairs.
She’s beautiful, sucessful and I’m sure going to be fine.
That said, criticism of her weight is bullsh!t. I don’t see you posting about the waistline of Tyler Florence
Her weight wasn’t criticized, just her supposed food obsession.
Please, no one is criticizing her weight. We just live in the real world, and realize that anyone in the food business, especially with her fattening recipes, who pretends to eat all that pasta and butter and cream and dessert but weighs what she does is full of it. She’s not eating all that food as she claims on her show, or she’s throwing it back up. Get real.
I love ya’ Gnat, but the same could be true about Anthony Bordain, yet we don’t critique his weight. I think a lot of the hosts have to do the rich food in moderation (either by small portions or by living super healthy when they aren’t filming). I haven’t seen Giada say she eats pasta with cream sauce daily, so I can’t really say she is being a hypocrite.
I am not a fan of her “personality” (she seems really artificial on her shows), but I don’t want to knock her for her body.
Love you back. But I’m not knocking her for her body. She has a nice body. I’m knocking her for pretending she eats that food she cooks. And I used to watch her show, and she DOES pretend she eats that way. She’s showing herself and her family or her guests eating and she’s yum yumming like it’s her ordinary average meal, when she’s spitting it out as soon as the cameras are off. Once she made some pasta dish with cream and because it had vegetables in it, she said “I eat this for lunch so I can fit in my little bikini.” Right. She may not say she eats that way on a daily basis, but she implies that eats her own food, and I just don’t believe her. Anthony Bordain is tall and lanky and male. He probably CAN eat most anything he wants. I could be wrong on both counts, but that’s my opinion of both of them.
@tiffany:) Bourdain has gained a lot of weight over the last 5-10 years. Plus I don’t think I would consider that an apples to apples comparison. He’s famous for a travel show where he also eats, but more so as a writer. He’s not presenting us with recipes and dishes, whereas Giada specifically is making a living writing cookbooks full of food she clearly doesn’t eat.
Only a slight correction.
Giada does eat the food she cooks. There’s nothing to go against those claims. And spit buckets of sorts are commonly used on cooking shows. Multiple takes or avoiding stuff in your teeth, or the food having sat out a bit too long are all justifications more common than calorie counting/weight restriction.
Giada has said she just eats smaller portions. I believe this because I know someone just like this. They ooo and aaahh over the food. Appear to savor every bite, but in the end have eaten very little. Since they talk about how great the food is and how much they enjoy eating it’s draws less negative attention.
So, Giada eats her own food. Her portions are just very small.
I agree @Kinchicago people have criticized her weight and her body before. I’ve been a lurker on cb for two years now and in a lot of the Giada threads people have said that she’s anorexic or that she has tyrannosaurus hands or that she has a lollipop head. I don’t get why it’s okay to body shame people like Kim Kardashian and Giada just because the majority of the posters on this site don’t like them but if its someone that people like e.g Angelina Jolie than people get all defensive.
It’s not fair, you’re correct. It’s just more socially acceptable to shame some threads more than others.
Remember. It’s not body shaming if the majority of other posters agree 😉
And comments like trex hands? I remember a few of those. People said that, but it’s wasn’t accepted and agreed by all. Only an opinion stated by 1 that did not speak for all.
In fact, many of those comments lead to a string of others explaining how that was incorrect to state and body shaming. So, let’s not state that like it was said and agreed upon by all.
This one was not a surprise. Not at all.
Love her…met her at a book signing…very gracious about having photos taken. Adorable daughter. Sorry to hear about her breakup.
You know I do kind of agree with her, but it goes both ways. Most people, men and women, want someone who will treat them really well and put effort into the relationship and into making their partner happy. As for the “same girl” bit, I get that too. Our lives are so full of stress and commitments and all kinds of other intimacy-killers that stepping away from all that and just being with your partner can be difficult.
She worded it rather poorly, but the essence is, “Treat your partner really well and take the time to be yourselves together without the baggage you’ve collected in life.” Now THAT is not rocket science.
I’m with you Wren – I think it plays to the ‘speak to your partner in their love language’. If he likes to have her cook meals, sit and have wine with him and make sure she buys his favourite cheese when she’s grocery shopping, and she’s happy to that AND he gives back to her in ways that are meaningful, the statement is not sexist or demeaning. He has supported her passion and occupation, travel, film schedule and appearances, so it may be that she feels it’s important to give back in ways he feels appreciated. At no point did she say ‘against my will I become subservient and lose myself so that he feels more important’.
Always cooks in a low cut shirt. My family watches her for entertainment. Giabooby! And the meals are fattening.
Which is probably why she spits it out between takes. I agree with you about the excess cleavage. That’s gross when you’re cooking.
Good food AND boobies??!! I’m there, dude!
That quote of hers is really stupid. And the irony of it is that her so-called “upstaging” career is one of the most traditional there is in a sense – a woman cooking in a kitchen. Yet she still feels that she has to defer to her husband’s “Kingship”.
The woman’s head that’s sitting perfectly atop Giada and Todd’s made me giggle.
Never saw her appeal. Her voice and mannerisms were always annoying to me.
She talks baby talk. That always annoys me.
She doesn’t seem to enjoy her food either. You ever watch Lidia? She dives in and you just know her pleasure in eating what she created is genuine. Giada always seems to be doing a Crest toothpaste ad.
agreed!
have you ever tasted lidia’s food???????
i dive in every time…
i want to live with her!
not surprised with this news, although maybe a bit.
i bet it took a long time to figure out how her ‘BRAND’ will be reshaped from happily married with a young child and adoring husband.
if all the blinds are true, my lord, this woman is BUSY with many men!!!
jade is absolutely beautiful, isn’t she?
she’s working a TUDE already though like her mom.
she reminds me of giada’s aunt who is often on the show.
major priss…;-)
She Is SUPER grating!… but not to dudes if the Blinds and not so Blinds are true
It’s errie how much her husband looks like my ex-boyfriend. They can pass for brothers!
That’s all I got. Sorry about the divorce, but I’m sure they’ll both be better off.
Was it the polka dot pants he’s wearing in pic 1?
Maybe he’s leaving her because of the way she overly enunciates EVERY ITALIAN WORD. Makes me want to stab my tv. I get it she’s Italian but damn.
Yes! I love to listen to her over enunciate PRO-SHOOT or Pasta FA-ZOOL! It’s a drinking game!
It must be all that (bucket) spitting. You gotta learn to swallow, Giada!
Eh, my husband & I always had a feeling she was Todd’s beard. He pinged my gaydar every time he was on her show.
+1!!!
@Angela – bahaha!
LOL!! +2
I do think its a bit suss when cooks obviously don’t eat what they cook. Its hard to promote food and functional eating when you are cooking food with mega calories and managing to remain a size 0 while you do it. It is a physiological impossibility for 99.9% of people to eat whatever they like and stay skinny. I know this from working in health research. It also sets unrealistic expectations for other women who may not realise the sheer unlikelihood of Ms G eating what she makes. Eat healthily, move your body in a way that feels good to you and cook yourself some nice buttery, creamy food once in a while that you eat without guilt. I love the Food Network because I love to cook. But when Ms G comes on I change the channel.
So you’re saying never trust a skinny chef?
Well Finger, I do not trust Sandra Lee. So…yes.
Sandra Lee isn’t a chef – good gawd – her “recipes” are AWFUL & embarrassing.
Semi home made.
It’s laughable.
Sandra Lee, the Half Assed Gourmet! I can’t stand her and the processed food she represents. Boo hiss! 😉
I don’t trust a mega skinny chef, nor a mega fat chef. The mega skinny probably doesn’t eat or enjoy the food s/he cooks. The mega fat one is likely indiscriminate in what s/he eats.
I think Giada HAS moved her body in ways that feel good to her. And perhaps in ways that felt good for others. That might be part of the problem!
To be fair, she takes bites of the food she cooks. All of the tv chefs take bites of what they cook. They don’t eat full plates of the food…too many takes for that. When the story about her spitting the food out came out I started watching her show carefully. I’ve never seen her NOT chew and swallow and actually ENJOY the food.
Irrational hate list, for sure.
He doesn’t look like he likes to eat a lot either. He’s pretty thin.
So no cutting into her over cheating rumours then?
Giada brings about as much spice as a jar of dried parsley.
When it comes to divorce filing before the end of the year is the way to go due to tax implications etc. Otherwise you will be working with you ex spouse long after your divorce is finalized to straighten out taxes.
What’s that kids show with the fruit have people eyes and mouths the Annoying Orange? That’s who she reminds me of. Lol!
Treating your men like kings won’t make them blind to your infidelities, sweetheart.
This comes of no suprise. She has been slutting around forever according to some sites. She has a darling little girl and some of her food is really good and really easy to make.
“Really really good and really really easy…”
She says this ALL the time!
The slutting around seems to be true.
Too bad her daughter will someday read all about it in a google search…
That’s the sad part…
Her food is sooooper sooper simple!!!! That’s what she says every time.
She is very irritating and annoying on TV. 11 years with her must be hard for him. Cute daughter though!
She’s been with Todd since 1989-1990 and they didn’t get married until 2003.
If I saw all those teeth coming at me every night….I’d have fled long ago. I’ve read many times she screws anything that has a zipper. Gossip perhaps…but she does strike me as the type!
I’m actually a bit surprised, since I’d thought that the couple staying together through all those rumors suggested that the marriage might be open. Apparently it either wasn’t, or he got tired of everyone talking about the subject. Hopefully they can handle things amicably.
oh then why couldn’t you make ti work if it’s so simple… dumba**…
Her daughter is gorgeous! That little face though…that is all.
So now Blow Job Giada can go after musians with a real vengeance.
The Food Network doesn’t even pretend it’s about her food anymore with the low cut tops and the sausage wrap dresses. If anything, I think she was rewarded for her off air (alleged) behavior and that DOES blow.
My partner and I always fight about whether she is pretty or not (pathetic I know). She grates me so much and I can’t get over her lollipop head – she must be crazy looking in real life. He says I can’t deny she is attractive but she does absolutely nothing for me.
What? Another one during the holidays? I’m sorry to read this. I’m a fan of Giada and her show. Their daughter is adorable. I always wondered why they didn’t have another child together. They’re a cute couple too. Divorce – Ugh.
After reading all the blinds about her, I just cannot watch her show and look at her gigantic mouth. Blech.
He does always seem really vanilla. And she just annoys the hell out of me. I’m another who turns the channel when she comes on. Can you imagine a real dinner/lunch/picnic/whatever BS meal at their house? Him sitting there like paint drying and her saying SPAH-GAY-TEE every 5 seconds. She who claims she never wanted to be in front of the camera (um, okay) or use her grandfather’s success, yet uses his name, which is neither her maiden name nor her married name. Also a lot of rumors about Bobby Flay’s infidelity and he fawns over her. Come get yer man, Stephanie!
Lol.
You could feature that quote in a Who Said It quiz, vs. her and Michelle Duggar. Just take out the names.
“Shut your pie hole, Giada”.
I don’t even know who this woman is, but that made me laugh.
Regarding her proper annunciation of Italian: I’d like you to consider that you are mother tongue in two languages, one being English the other Spanish. Whilst speaking Spanish to someone, would any of you mispronounce an English word and put a heavy Spanish accent on it? No, you wouldn’t, so why should she? I too spent most of my life in Italy, and when speaking English I don’t mispronounce Italian words (typically food talk). Why would I? She leans on my last nerve for several reasons (and as someone said up thread, she ain’t no Lidia!), but pronouncing words correctly isn’t one of them. That’s an American thing.
Yeah, she really is American. I don’t care who her family is. She was raised there and over-pronounces like one.
Gee, I guess I’m the only who likes her. Didn’t know about the blinds.
I think she came to the realization that she wants a true mental and physical partner/marriage instead of a fun friend who she’s allowed to cheat on because he’s gay
Thank you – I think he is gay as well, therefore, she is free as a bird – which I see her looking a bit like some bird, the nose has it.
Not too many male fashion designers are not gay, just saying…