Ina Garten says she takes on new challenges at 78 because she likes ‘working scared’

Ina Garten, 78, said the key to embracing new challenges later in life is making sure they’re fun.

On Saturday’s episode of “The Interview” podcast, Garten reflected on her decision to pursue new creative ventures in her 50s, both as a cookbook author and as the host of a Food Network show. “I love working scared, because it keeps me up at night,” Garten said. “I love this expression, getting out over your skis.

You’ve sort of made a stake in what you’ve decided to do, whether it’s books or TV.” Garten said she has often turned down opportunities for years until she could find a way to approach them differently. “I don’t like doing it the way everybody else does it,” Garten said, pointing to her cookbooks as an example.

When she began writing them in 1999, she said, most cookbooks included around 250 recipes. “I mean, who needs 250 recipes?

I need 75 really good recipes that I can make over and over again,” Garten said.

She added that her publisher was not initially convinced her idea would work, though it ultimately did.

Garten also pushed back on the idea that people become more afraid as they get older, saying she felt “the opposite.” “I think I have a very low threshold of boredom.

If I know how to do something, I don’t want to do it again,” she said, adding that she enjoys using what she has learned to figure out her next step.

For Garten, deciding whether to take on a new project is straightforward. “I ask myself one question.

And if it’s fun, then I really want to do it.

I just have to figure out how to make sure it’s fun,” she said.

This isn’t the first time Garten has spoken about her desire to try something new and step outside her comfort zone.

In 2024, she told CBS News that she left her White House job at 30 to buy the Barefoot Contessa store because she needed to do “something creative.” That same month, she told House Beautiful that she enjoys taking on renovation projects because they give her a chance to challenge herself. “I’m an adrenaline junkie,” Garten said. “I give myself a project that I think there’s no way in hell I’m going to be able to do.

And when it’s over, I’m like, that worked out really well.

I like having an impossible problem to solve.” Garten is one of several celebrities who have said getting older hasn’t made them any less eager to take on new projects.

Halle Berry, who turned 60 in August, has said she has no plans to retire and questioned why people see that age as a reason to stop working. “Why should I now sit down and give that all away — and then what?” Berry, who turned 60 in August, said.

Jennifer Garner has likewise said that, despite years of success, she still values having something to strive for. “It’s great to still feel hungry,” she said. “I’m still really hungry.”