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Giada De Laurentiis Splits With Fashion Designer Husband
Giada De Laurentiis and Todd Thompson (Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images For Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week)
After 11 years of marriage, Giada De Laurentiis is splitting up with her fashion designer husband, Todd Thompson. Yes, this Food Network star is single again.The 44-year-old L.A. native who rose to fame with her popular Italian cooking shows announced on her website on Monday that the two had been amicably separated since July, but finally decided to end things for good. It's not clear if they've filed for divorce yet.
"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," she said in a statement. "Todd and I share a beautiful daughter and a lifetime of great memories that we both treasure more than anything."
The two met in college and tied the knot in 2003, and the daughter she mentioned that they share is 6-year-old Jade Marie De Laurentiis-Thompson.
In a 2011 Redbook interview, De Laurentiis addressed some rumors that she was hooking up with singer John Mayer:
Todd was embarrassed that his family in Michigan would see it and think, What is going on over there in Hollywood?...What made it all even more surprising is that I haven't had any contact with John Mayer in three years. You know how you'll briefly get introduced to somebody? Maybe we chatted for five minutes, but I wouldn't consider that intimate....I know these things happen, but maybe I was naive to think that they are usually based on some facts.
She also described the effort she would put in their relationship:
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.
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De Laurentiis has had a busy year as she opened her first restaurant, GIADA, at The Cromwell in Las Vegas in June.
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