His History of Marriage & Divorce

Alton Brown has a history of marriage, divorce, and remarriage.

Celebrity chef Alton Brown is one of the culinary arts’ most recognized figures.

He’s beloved by fans of cooking and of food. Thanks to Cutthroat Kitchen, he’s popular among BDSM enthusiasts and meme fans, too.

Let’s delve into his marital history. And what’s this about a “third wife,” exactly?

Alton Brown Married Wife DeAnna in 1994

From Good Eats to Cutthroat Kitchen to one of the best seasons of Worst Cooks In America, Alton Brown is a beloved celebrity chef.

Long before his face graced our television screens and various memes, he married his first wife, DeAnna Brown. That was in 1994.

In 1999, the couple welcomed their daughter, Zoey. In addition to their actual child, they also worked together on Good Eats. DeAnna became an executive producer on Alton’s show.

Various members of Alton Brown’s family appeared on Good Eats. Zoey was among them, receiving the descriptive nickname of “Alton’s Spawn.”

Other family members also appeared on the show, including his mother and late grandmother. However, other “family” guests were actors. It was, after all, a cooking show.

Alton Brown Divorced – For The First Time

In 2015, after 21 years of marriage, Alton Brown filed to divorce DeAnna. According to a report from E! News at the time, the two had apparently been trying to make it work, without success, and had separated in 2014.

Both Alton and DeAnna had been devout attendees of their Southern Baptist Church. In fact, many times, Alton has spoken about his devout Christian beliefs.

Despite the issues tearing them apart, including Alton’s busy work schedule, part of why they’d tried to make it work was their church. They’d felt a religious pressure to preserve their marriage at the cost of their happiness.

Ultimately, Alton left Johnson Ferry Baptist Church. In fact, he told Time that he was taking a “break” from organized religion and in search of a “new belief system.” He cited his former denomination’s anti-gay doctrine and its emphasis upon indoctrinating children, which were both at odds with his moral stance.

In 2019, several years after his divorce, Alton Brown discussed the end of his marriage in an interview with People.

“We really went separate ways in our lives,” the celebrity chef explained. “We changed, the world changed, and she went one way and I went the other way. I think we’re probably both a heck of a lot better off where we are.”

He also touched upon stepping away from the Southern Baptist denomination. “There’s too much contradiction for my social beliefs. My social beliefs are far more liberal than what falls under most of the structures of organized religion, and I find that difficult to work with,” he expressed.

In 2018, Alton Brown Married Elizabeth Ingram

Elizabeth Ingram is a restaurant designer from Atlanta. In 2018, the two became engaged. The two married on a boat in Charleston that September.

Notably, on Episode 5 of Season 18 of Worst Cooks In America, Alton Brown referred to Elizabeth as his “third” wife. This may have been a joke … or simply a symptom of him losing his mind in the face of culinary disaster.

Marriage and divorce are both part of life. Not for everyone, but certainly for Alton Brown.