Ina Garten Says Her Husband Jeffrey Accidentally Sent a ‘Love Text’ to the Wrong Person

Food Network star Ina Garten and her husband Jeffrey Garten have been married for over 50 years, but they still keep things spicy. Their flirty messages were once sent by mail, but they are now text messages. This means they can go awry, as one did when Jeffrey accidentally sent a message to Garten’s publicist.

During a stop on The Drew Barrymore Show, host Drew Barrymore asked Garten about how she and her husband stay in touch when they are apart. “He doesn’t send letters now, but is it true he sends you love texts?” Barrymore asked in an upcoming episode, via PEOPLE.

“He does… and sometimes they go astray,” the Barefoot Contessa host replied. “He sends them to the wrong person.” Of course, Barrymore was not going to let Garten casually mention this without asking for a follow-up. She asked what those mistaken messages said.

“My dear friend, who’s also my publicist, he sent a text to her, and he meant it for me, and he said, ‘You’re gonna be delicious tonight,’ and it went to her,” Garten, 74, said. “She was like, ‘Woah.’ She sent back, ‘I don’t think this was meant for me.’” Barrymore then asked Garten if her publicist “turned red.” Garten was not by her friend’s side when she received the message, but she “imagined so.”

Garten and Jeffrey, 76, a businessman who worked in the Bill Clinton Administration, have been married since 1968. In March, Garten told Page Six that Jeffrey helps boost her confidence whenever she is unsure of herself. “Jeffrey says if it wasn’t hard, I wouldn’t think it was interesting… So that part of it, I like. I like the challenge of it,” the celebrity chef said.

The couple will celebrate their 54th wedding anniversary in December. During the pandemic, they spent more time together than they had in years. Before, Jeffrey commuted to Connecticut during the week to teach at Yale while Garten worked from their home in East Hampton, New York.

“We had had that schedule for 40 years, where he would leave on Monday, and come back on Friday,” Garten told PEOPLE. “And then when that pandemic happened, I was like, ‘Oh, whoa. What’s going to happen here?’ And 24 hours later, I’m like, ‘This is great. I’ve got a buddy all the time.’” Recently, Jeffrey began commuting to Connecticut again, but not for long stretches of time.

Garten’s latest project is her new cookbook Go-To Dinners. She also recently began a new Food Network show, Be My Guest with Ina Garten, which is available to stream on Discovery+. Barefoot Contessa episodes are also available on Discovery+.