The name Kate Connelly only came to public notice after she got married to celebrity chef and reality TV personality Bobby Flay who, on his own part, has been in and out of relationships and had been married once. Bobby is no doubt a successful man who has earned much public respect for his culinary activities on Food Network.
Flay’s innovative style and his love for traditional Southwestern and Mediterranean cuisines are one of a kind and like his professional life, his marriage to Kate got off to a good start. It drew huge public attention after a lavish wedding ceremony but sadly crashed three years later, to the dismay of their growing fans. Let’s find out more about Flay’s ex-wife, Kate Connelly.
Growing Up with a Passion for Cooking
Kate Connelly is an American model and TV host. She was born on January 21, 1986, in the beautiful city of Minneapolis. Kate’s culinary experience was first a passion that was transferred to her from her mother, a housewife who taught her how to cook a lot of dishes. Her father, on the other hand, was a journalist.
Connelly had her high education at a local Minneapolis high school. She subsequently proceeded to Massachusetts College where she gained a degree in journalism. Upon leaving college, Kate initially pursued a career as a professional model. She scored several respectable gigs but her first love, which was food and culinary arts, kept on calling out to her. She eventually could not resist the call any much longer and as such, delved into the food industry.
Her Exploits in the Food and Broadcast Industry
Asides from her work as a professional model, Kate Connelly has also built a respectable career and fortune in the food industry. The Minneapolis native has hosted several food-related TV shows, including Robin Leach Talking Food, which ran on the Food Network in the 90s. The show featured a diverse range of guests coming to make special dishes.
Connelly expertly helmed the series for several years and had to cope with the occasional cooking mishaps, including exploding blenders. Even though some of these mishaps were quite overwhelming and messy, she kept her game face on and this won her a lot of viewers over the years. Robin Leach Talking Food has sadly come to an end but devoted fans can still see Connelly on reruns of the show on TV.
Welcoming Her First Child and Meeting Bobby Flay
Kate Connelly largely owes her celebrity status to her relationship with Bobby Flay. As such, details about her life before meeting him, including facts about her past lovers, cannot be easily found. The truth, however, remains that she was no eunuch prior to meeting Flay. She was involved in some romantic relationships and one of them resulted in the birth of her son, Jonathan, in 1986.
Connelly was thus coping with the peculiar challenges of being a single mom when she first met Flay in January 1995. He had come on her show as a guest and they instantly hit it off. He subsequently invited her to have dinner with him at the Monkey Bar and she had to find a babysitter for the night. Connelly initially presumed that the date wouldn’t last long and expected to be back in two hours maximum. The reverse, however, turned out to be the case as she thoroughly enjoyed herself in the four-hour-long rendezvous.
Following this remarkable first date, Connelly and Flay commenced a relationship and a few months later, the celebrity chef popped the big question. Connelly happily said yes and they tied the knot at Flay’s New York restaurant, known as Bolo, in October 1995. Their nuptials featured about 90 guests and was officiated by a renowned law professor, Kristin Booth Glen. The couple thereafter embarked on their honeymoon and subsequently settled down to family life with Jonathan. They also welcomed their first and only child together, a daughter named Sophie, on the 16th of April 1996.
Life After Divorce
When Kate Connelly and Bobby Flay got married, their nuptials was well covered by the New York Times who inquired from the celebrity chef how he intended to cope with being a husband and a stepfather. Flay honestly acknowledged that the situation was complicated, and the odds were stacked against them, but maintained that challenges make life great.
These ominous words surely came to pass as the couple began to drift apart three years into their marriage. They couldn’t cope with the curveballs that life threw at them and they finally went their separate ways in 1998. The divorce was finalized much later with the details kept private. The most that is clear was that it was an amicable proceeding as none of the parties bashed the other in Public.
Since divorcing Flay, Kate Connelly has kept her personal life away from the public. Consequently, there are no reports of any romantic dalliances with other men. The Minneapolis native is quite content to lavish her attention on her two kids, Jonathan and Sophie.
There is not much information on what Jonathan is up to but Sophie is an alumna of the University of Southern California. She studied broadcast and digital journalism and received her degree in 2018. Sophie now works as a correspondent for ABC7. She has also made several appearances on her father’s TV shows with her proud dad tipping her to eclipse him someday.
See Also: All You Need To Know About Laurie Urlacher – Brian Urlacher’s Ex-wife
While Kate Connelly is presumably single, her ex-husband is most definitely not toeing the same line. The celebrity chef got married to Hollywood actress, Stephanie March, in February 2005. Their union lasted for the better part of a decade and they called it quits in March 2015. Their divorce was later finalized on the 17th of July 2015.
Unlike his spilt from Connelly, Flay’s divorce from his third wife was quite ugly as she accused him of having a three-year affair with his aide, Elyse Tirrell. Flay, of course, denied the allegations but this fuelled March into contesting their prenup agreement. The courts, however, refused to take her side and as such, she was asked to vacate the couple’s homes in Manhattan and the Hamptons. She, however, got $5,000 in monthly spousal support.
