Giada De Laurentiis is an Italian-American chef best known for being the host of her own Food Network shows, Everyday Italian and Giada at Home. De Laurentiis is also the founder of the successful catering business GDL Foods.
With so many businesses and projects under her belt, it is no wonder that she has amassed a huge net worth. Here’s how she built up her culinary empire.
De Laurentiis’s Early Life
The celebrity chef was born in Rome into a wealthy family. She is the eldest child of actors Veronica De Laurentiis and Alex De Benedetti. Dino De Laurentiis, her maternal grandfather, was a legendary filmmaker who owned a restaurant, DDL Food Show. Having always been interested in cooking, she would often spend a lot of time in her grandfather's restaurant and the family kitchen.
After her parents divorced, she moved to California with her mother, where she attended Marymount High School in Los Angeles. She graduated from the University of California with a bachelor's degree in social anthropology. However, after her graduation, she followed her passion and entered the world of culinary.
Start of her Culinary Career
After graduation, she moved to Paris to study at Le Cordon Bleu to follow her aspiration of becoming a Pastry Chef. She returned to LA, where she started working professionally in several restaurants, including Spago, chef Wolfgang Puck's restaurant.
After that, she started working as a food stylist, which caught Food Network’s eye after she styled a Food & Wine magazine piece in 2002. Her first Food Network cooking show, Every Day Italian, premiered in 2003, for which she received a lot of backlashes but still went on to host another show, Behind the Bash, three years later.
Since then, her career has climbed ladders with many TV series like Giada's Weekend Getaways and Giada At Home. Her show, Giada Entertains, even won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Culinary Series on June 26, 2020.
Her Restaurants And Other Businesses
De Laurentiis owns three upscale restaurants under her name, the first one being GIADA, which was opened in July 2014. The restaurant is inside The Cromwell in Las Vegas, which serves Italian cuisine and breathtaking views of the Las Vegas strip and Bellagio fountains. The other two restaurants are Pronto by Giada and GDL by Giana.
Apart from restaurants, she has her exclusive line of kitchen supplies, including stainless steel pots and pan, in partnership with Target. De Laurentiis has also collaborated with the Barilla Group to launch an Italian gourmet pasta line under the Academia Barilla name. She has her food shopping line, Giadzy Pantry, that supplies authentic Italian produces.
To date, the celebrity chef has written ten books. Her books have made her #1 New York Times Bestselling author. Her recent book ‘Eat Better, Feel Better’ was released in March 2021, which is all about clean eating.
Her Expensive Divorce Settlement
De Laurentiis herself is a highly successful woman; however, her divorce has contributed to a slight rift in her net worth. She was married to Todd Thompson, a fashion designer, in May 2003. They ended their nine years of marriage in September 2015, when their divorce was finalized. The two share a daughter — Jade Marie De Laurentiis-Thompson.
De Laurentiis had to pay her husband $9,000 per month in child support per their divorce settlement. Thompson got to keep their $3.2 million houses and $300,000 in art and furnishings. De Laurentiis got to retain rights to keep her brand, including an Italian cookbook, her production company, Linguine, and GLD Foods, Inc.
Regardless, the 50-year-old had to give 50% of unpaid advances to various cookbooks to her ex-husband. She also had to provide $2.5 million for Home with Gaida and ‘Weeknights with Giada,’ $2.3 million for ‘Giada Feel Good Food,’ and $757,000 for ‘Everyday Pasta’ and ‘Giada's Kitchen.’
The pair also ended up dividing up their various bank accounts, which altogether had over $2 million. Since both of them are well off, there were no provisions of spousal support.
What Is Giada De Laurentiis Net Worth?
De Laurentiis received the shorter end when it came to her divorce. This caused her net worth to fluctuate a little. Regardless, the celebrity chef still has a lot going on for her. As of 2020, she has a net worth of a whopping $30 million, which is bound to increase exponentially in the upcoming years.
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