Kate Connelly Is Bobby Flay's Ex-wife – Inside Their Short Love Story

Bobby Flay was living the life of a bachelor when he met his ex-wife, Kate Connelly, a bubbly cooking show co-host with a son. The former couple fell head over heels quite fast, and even though their marriage didn't last, the famous chef called his ex-wife his "parenting partner."

Bobby Flay has become a household name for his talent in the kitchen, which has been well-documented on his various shows on the Food Network. However, the celebrity chef's personal life has also caught fans' attention.

Bobby Flay met his ex-wife, Kate Connelly, in the 1990s, and the couple soon married, making the chef a husband for the second time and a stepfather. Following their marriage, Kate Connelly's former husband admitted the situation was "complicated" but that he was up for the challenge.

How Did Kate Connelly and Bobby Flay Meet?

When Bobby and Kate met, she was a co-host on "Robin Leach Talking Food," a cooking show on the Food Network with a quirky edge. Bobby, a chef at two restaurants in Manhattan, was a guest on the show. One of Kate's close friends said:

"For both, there was an instant attraction, yet instant danger signals. She was warned that he was a real bachelor, and he realized he met the woman he was going to give up bachelorhood for."

However, while Bobby was a single man who kept his home pristine, Kate was a single mom with an eight-year-old son, Jonathan, who had furniture that camouflaged peanut butter and jelly stains. But Bobby didn't mind, as he shared, "She was a single mother with an 8-year-old son, and I thought, 'Wow, that's an accomplishment.'"

Kate Connelly and Her Ex-husband Dated for Less than a Year before They Were Engaged

Bobby took Kate to dinner at the Monkey Bar for their first date. And what she thought would be a two-hour outing, tops — at least, that's what she told her baby sister — turned into a four-and-a-half-hour evening that was the best date of Kate's life.

Bobby handed her an engagement ring a few months later, as Kate was not fond of corny romantic antics. They tied the knot the following October, and when the chef was asked about his new life as a husband and a stepdad, he revealed:

"It's a complicated situation, and the odds are against us, but that's what's great about it. If there's no challenge, why do it?"

Bobby Flay and His Ex-wife Share a Daughter

A year after getting married, Kate and Bobby welcomed a daughter, Sophie Flay. Sophie has grown up to pursue a career as a broadcast journalist and has collaborated on multiple projects with her famous dad.

"We don't think of this as work. This is totally fun. It's just the two of us," Bobby shared. The daddy-daughter duo joined forces again in 2022 for a cookbook in which Bobby sweetly described Sophie's mother as his "parenting partner."

At the time of writing, Kate had a private Instagram account. However, fans have seen her on her daughter's social media. Sophie's parents divorced two years after she was born in 1998.

However, in 2018, they looked like a happy family as the journalist shared a photo of all three of them in Malibu. In May 2020, Sophie celebrated her mom in honor of Mother's Day, and that same year, she posted another snap of Kate for her birthday.