Details About Jennifer Garner's Sweet Friendship With Ina Garten

Jennifer Garner's passion for cooking has been apparent for years. The actor frequently shows off her skills in her gourmet kitchen — on par with the rest of Garner's lavish life – during her hilarious and delightful social media series "Pretend Cooking Show," which she started on a lark in 2017. Garner's love for the culinary arts have led to many interesting opportunities for her, including a close friendship with celebrity chef and beloved TV personality Ina Garten.

In Garten's new memoir, "Be Ready When the Luck Happens," the beloved Barefoot Contessa reflects on her friendship with the celebrated actress and shares how it kicked off in 2012, when Garner invited Garten to her 40th birthday party, which the famed chef recalls as a very unassuming affair. "She very sweetly invited me to her birthday party, which was amazing," she told People, adding that all the women who were invited to the event were "instructed not to have their hair done or anything, hair in a ponytail, sweat, clothes, and sneakers. And they were wonderful, wonderful women." It was this wholesome and accepting attitude that seemingly drew the renowned chef to Garner in the first place.

In the years since, both women have been supportive of one another in interviews and have appeared on each other's respective shows. In April 2024, the "13 Going on 30" star appeared on Garten's Food Network series "Be My Guest" — which almost didn't happen, by the way — and then returned the favor by appearing on Garner's "Pretend Cooking Show." Garner was floored by having Garten guest star in an episode. "Making a 'Pretend Cooking Show' with the Contessa who inspired it was meta for my brain," she captioned an Instagram post, which she emphasized with an exploding head emoji.

While Jennifer Garner and Ina Garten have now been pals for over a decade, the pair almost never connected over a mistake Garten's assistant made years ago. In her new memoir, Garten explained that random people and fans would often write in, asking if they could cook with her on the show, without understanding that her guests were usually her real-life besties. Her assistant, however, was in charge of writing back polite letters explaining the situation and letting fans down gently.

"One day, she'd offhandedly dismissed a letter from Jennifer Garner because she apparently didn't realize who she was," Garten recalled (via People). However, Garten learned of the mix-up and felt that Garner would be a good fit as a guest, as she "seemed smart, funny, and so grounded, very un-Hollywood." So, she contacted the "Alias" star when filming an episode of her Food Network series in Los Angeles, and they met up. "As we both suspected, [we] felt an instant connection," Garten wrote in her memoir. "We've been friends ever since."

The television chef further showered Garner with praise while speaking with People, explaining that Garner is someone she "enormously" admires. "She is grounded and principled and smart and an incredible parent and great cook," Garten shared. "She's just extraordinary." In April 2023, Garner had some kind words of her own for Garten, telling Harper's Bazaar, "I lean heavily on 'Barefoot Contessa,' I love her recipes ... The way that she's taught me to roast vegetables, the way she makes salmon, I mean anything I do well, it's because of Ina."