TLDR: Todd Thompson is a retired fashion designer who was married to celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis from 2003 to 2015. Once a successful menswear designer at Anthropologie, he stepped back from his career as Giada’s fame skyrocketed.

Their expensive divorce, without a prenup, cost Giada millions in assets and ongoing royalties. As of 2026, Todd lives near Los Angeles and has been dating Heather Lacombe since around 2017.

The Man Behind the Celebrity Chef

When Giada De Laurentiis became one of Food Network’s biggest stars in the early 2000s, her husband Todd Thompson was right there beside her. Literally.

He appeared in over 60 episodes of her cooking shows, taste-testing pasta, helping set up outdoor dinner parties, and playing the supportive spouse who adored his wife’s cooking.

But behind the camera-ready smiles and perfect dinner table moments, something more complicated was happening. Todd Thompson, once the more successful half of the couple, was watching his identity shift from accomplished fashion designer to “Giada’s husband.”

And according to those close to the couple, he struggled with that transition more than anyone realized.

Here’s the story of Todd Thompson, from successful designer to stay-at-home dad, and what he’s doing now nearly a decade after his high-profile divorce.

Early Life and Career Success

Todd Thompson isn’t someone who sought the spotlight. Before he met Giada, he’d built a respectable career in fashion design, specializing in menswear.

He worked for Anthropologie, the upscale clothing retailer known for its bohemian aesthetic and carefully curated collections.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Todd was doing well for himself. He had steady work, creative fulfillment, and a decent income. By all accounts, he was the more financially stable partner when he and Giada started dating. She was still figuring out her path, he already had his.

Friends from that era describe Todd as creative, laid-back, and unpretentious. He wasn’t interested in fame or celebrity culture. He just wanted to design clothes and live a comfortable life. That would become a problem later.

Meeting Giada: A Love Story That Started Young

Todd Thompson met Giada De Laurentiis when she was just 19 years old. The exact circumstances of how they met aren’t widely publicized, but they were together for years before marrying. Their relationship spanned Giada’s entire twenties, a time when she was figuring out her career path and her identity.

In many ways, they grew up together. When they started dating, Giada was a college student at UCLA studying anthropology. She hadn’t yet gone to Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. She wasn’t a chef, a TV personality, or a brand.

She was just Giada, granddaughter of legendary film producer Dino De Laurentiis, trying to find her own path.

Todd was there through all of it. He supported her decision to go to culinary school. He encouraged her catering business. And when Food Network came calling in 2002 with an offer to do a pilot, he was enthusiastic about the opportunity even though Giada herself was hesitant.

They married in 2003, the same year Everyday Italian premiered. It seemed like perfect timing.

Life as “Mr. Giada De Laurentiis”

Everyday Italian was a massive hit. Within a year, Giada went from unknown chef with a catering company to Food Network star with a book deal and national recognition.

Her income skyrocketed. Her schedule became relentless. And Todd’s role in the relationship fundamentally changed.

He started appearing regularly on her shows, playing the adoring husband who couldn’t wait to taste whatever she was making. Fans loved seeing their dynamic. But for Todd, the experience was more complicated than it looked on camera.

As Giada’s career exploded, Todd gradually stepped back from his own. Someone needed to handle the domestic side of things. Someone needed to be home when their daughter Jade was born in 2008. And increasingly, that someone was Todd.

Friends later told tabloids that Todd struggled with the role reversal. He’d gone from being the successful, established partner to being the supporting player in someone else’s story. He was no longer Todd Thompson, fashion designer. He was Giada’s husband. And then, after Jade was born, he was Giada’s stay-at-home husband.

“He couldn’t handle being Mr. Giada De Laurentiis,” a source told Page Six after the divorce. “When they met, he was the successful one. She was just starting out. But once her career took off, the dynamic completely flipped, and he never adjusted to it.”

Affair Rumors and Marriage Troubles

Throughout their marriage, tabloids speculated about affairs on both sides. Giada was romantically linked to several men, most notably singer John Mayer, Today Show host Matt Lauer, and fellow Food Network star Bobby Flay.

All of these rumors were denied by everyone involved, but they persisted.

The Bobby Flay rumors were particularly persistent. Giada and Bobby had obvious chemistry on camera, collaborated frequently, and were photographed holding hands in Italy in 2015, right around the time both marriages were ending. Both have repeatedly denied any romantic involvement, insisting they’re just friends.

Whether infidelity played a role in the divorce remains unconfirmed. What is clear is that by 2014, after nearly 12 years of marriage, the relationship was over. They announced their separation in December 2014 and finalized the divorce in 2015.

The Expensive Divorce: No Prenup, Big Consequences

Here’s where things get interesting from a financial perspective. Giada De Laurentiis and Todd Thompson had no prenuptial agreement. They married in 2003, before Giada became a household name, when Todd was arguably the more successful partner.

Nobody was thinking about protecting future earnings from a Food Network empire that didn’t exist yet.

That decision cost Giada millions.

According to divorce records, the settlement included:

Todd got their $3.2 million Pacific Palisades home
He received approximately $300,000 worth of art from their collection
He got 50% of Giada’s cookbook royalties earned during the marriage (which continues to generate income)
He received $9,000 per month in child support for their daughter Jade

Giada kept her television production company, her restaurant businesses, and her ongoing Food Network contracts. But she had to essentially buy Todd out of the empire they’d built together, even though she’d been the one doing the work.

For context, Bobby Flay’s third divorce from actress Stephanie March happened around the same time. Stephanie reportedly sought $5,000 per month in spousal support plus half of Bobby’s earnings during the marriage. The cases were similar: celebrity chefs with no prenups facing expensive divorces.

Divorce lawyers who’ve commented on the case note that California’s community property laws meant Todd was entitled to half of everything earned during the marriage, regardless of who did the earning. The lack of a prenup was a costly mistake for Giada.

Life After Divorce: Where Is Todd Thompson Now?

After the divorce, Todd largely disappeared from public view. He’s not on social media. He doesn’t give interviews. He’s lived the private life he always seemed to prefer, away from the cameras and the spotlight that came with being married to a celebrity.

According to various reports, Todd retired from fashion design after the divorce. With his share of the divorce settlement, including the multi-million dollar home and ongoing royalty payments, he had the financial freedom to step away from work entirely.

He lives somewhere near Los Angeles, close enough to co-parent Jade with Giada. By all accounts, they’ve maintained a respectful co-parenting relationship. Giada has said in interviews that she and Todd live just five minutes apart and coordinate closely on Jade’s schedule and activities.

“We’re both committed to making this work for Jade,” Giada told People magazine in 2017. “Todd and I may not be married anymore, but we’re still a family.”

Todd’s New Relationship: Heather Lacombe

Around 2017, Todd started dating Heather Lacombe, a Los Angeles-based woman who works in marketing. Unlike Giada’s high-profile relationship with television producer Shane Farley, Todd’s relationship with Heather has remained almost entirely private.

There are very few photos of them together. Heather doesn’t appear to have public social media accounts. The relationship has been confirmed by sources close to Todd, but neither he nor Heather has spoken publicly about it.

This privacy seems intentional. After spending over a decade in the public eye as Giada’s husband, Todd appears to have made a conscious decision to keep his personal life completely separate from media attention.

Co-Parenting Jade: A Success Story

If there’s one area where Todd and Giada have succeeded post-divorce, it’s co-parenting their daughter Jade. Now in her late teens (born March 2008), Jade has grown up splitting time between both parents’ homes.

Jade has chosen to pursue theater rather than follow her mother into the culinary world, a decision both parents have supported. She’s not particularly interested in cooking or the food industry, instead focusing on acting and musical theater.

Giada has spoken openly about how she and Todd coordinate on everything from school events to holiday schedules. Todd attends Jade’s theater performances. Giada makes sure Todd is included in important milestones. They’ve figured out how to put their daughter first, even when their own relationship didn’t work out.

It’s worth noting that Jade has also developed a good relationship with Giada’s longtime boyfriend Shane Farley, who’s been in her life since she was about seven years old. By all accounts, the adults in Jade’s life have created a functional, supportive environment for her.

What We Can Learn from Todd’s Story

Todd Thompson’s story is a cautionary tale about what can happen when one partner’s success dramatically outpaces the other’s, especially when there’s no prenuptial agreement to establish financial boundaries.

When Todd and Giada married in 2003, they were equals. He had an established career, she was just starting out. They probably didn’t imagine needing a prenup because neither had significant assets to protect and neither could have predicted that Giada would become a multimillionaire celebrity within a few years.

But as Giada’s career exploded and Todd stepped back from his own work to support her and care for their daughter, the power dynamics in the relationship shifted dramatically.

Todd went from breadwinner to stay-at-home spouse. And according to sources close to the couple, he never fully adjusted to that role.

The divorce highlighted how California’s community property laws work. It didn’t matter that Giada was the one filming shows, writing cookbooks, and building restaurants. Everything earned during the marriage was considered joint property, which meant Todd was entitled to half.

For Giada, the lesson was clear. When she entered her next relationship with Shane Farley, she chose not to remarry. As of 2026, they’ve been together for over a decade but remain unmarried. She’s been candid in interviews about not needing “a piece of paper” to validate the relationship.

The Giada Factor: Life in Someone Else’s Shadow

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Todd’s story is what it reveals about the challenges of being married to someone exponentially more famous than you are. This isn’t unique to Todd and Giada. It’s a pattern that shows up repeatedly in celebrity marriages where one partner becomes dramatically more successful than the other after the wedding.

Todd’s friends and sources close to the couple have suggested that he struggled with no longer having his own identity separate from Giada’s.

When they went out, people recognized her, not him. When he appeared on her shows, he was “Giada’s husband,” not Todd Thompson, fashion designer. His accomplishments were overshadowed by hers.

This isn’t to blame either person. Giada didn’t set out to eclipse her husband. She simply became incredibly successful at what she did.

And Todd didn’t fail at anything. He just happened to be married to someone whose career took off in ways no one could have predicted.

But the psychological impact of that dynamic, especially for men who’ve been socialized to be providers and breadwinners, can be profound. And in Todd’s case, it appears to have contributed to the end of the marriage.

Comparing Two Relationships: Todd vs. Shane

It’s instructive to compare Giada’s marriage to Todd with her current relationship with Shane Farley. The differences are striking.

Todd and Giada met when she was 19. She was still figuring out who she was and what she wanted to do with her life. They grew up together, but that also meant he watched her transform from struggling caterer to multimillionaire celebrity. He had to constantly readjust to new versions of who she was becoming.

Shane and Giada met when she was already a massively successful celebrity chef in her forties. There was no adjustment period. He knew exactly who he was getting involved with. And critically, Shane had his own successful career as an Emmy-winning television producer.

He didn’t need Giada for money, status, or identity.

Shane also understands the entertainment industry in ways Todd never could. He knows what it’s like to work 16-hour days on set. He gets the pressures and demands of television production. He’s not threatened by Giada’s success because he has his own.

The contrast suggests that Giada learned important lessons from her first marriage. She chose a partner who was already fully formed, professionally successful, and comfortable with himself. There was no risk of Shane becoming “Mr. Giada De Laurentiis” because he was already Shane Farley, accomplished producer.

The Bottom Line on Todd Thompson

As of 2026, Todd Thompson is 50-something years old, financially comfortable from his divorce settlement, dating Heather Lacombe, and successfully co-parenting his teenage daughter with his ex-wife. He’s out of the spotlight entirely, living the private life he always seemed to prefer.

His story isn’t one of failure or tragedy. It’s the story of someone who married young, supported his wife’s remarkable career success, struggled with the identity shift that came with being the less famous partner, and ultimately moved on to build a quieter, more private life after divorce.

The expensive divorce settlement, while painful for Giada, gave Todd the financial freedom to step away from work and focus on what matters to him: his daughter, his relationship, and his privacy.

He doesn’t need to work. He doesn’t need to be famous. He can just be Todd.

In that sense, maybe Todd got exactly what he always wanted: a comfortable life, away from cameras and celebrity, with the people he cares about.

It just took a very public marriage and a very expensive divorce to get there.