“I thought about it a lot, and at my lowest point, I wondered if the only answer would be to get a divorce,” she continued. “I loved Jeffrey and didn’t want to shock—or hurt—him, so I’d start by suggesting we pause for a separation.”
And amid feeling like they were “caught between two worlds,” the Food Network star pushed to break the mold of a “traditional ‘man and wife’ relationship,” and insisted that they see a therapist.
“Jeffrey’s willingness to see the therapist was as significant as anything that might happen during their session,” she wrote. “He was that determined to convince me he was serious about making our marriage work.”
And luckily, the couple is stronger than ever as they prepare to reach 56 years of marriage this December.
“Six weeks passed. We talked, we listened, and more important, we heard each other when we aired our concerns,” she continued. “Moving forward, we could be equals who took care of each other. It wouldn’t happen overnight, but if we worked toward the same goal, we could change things together.”
As for where it all started, the two knew it was love at first sight after first laying eyes on each other in a college library. And that very same day, the Yale alum took her on their first date.