United Kingdom, June 1 -- Ina Garten went through a "really difficult" time in her marriage when she was trying to build her business.

The 77-year-old chef - who has been married to former government official Jeffrey Garten since 1968 - is these days best known as the host of the Food Network programme 'Barefoot Contessa' but was just trying to get her specialty food store off the ground in the 1970s, and admitted it took a toll on her realtionship for a period of time.

Speaking on 'Sunday TODAY with Willie Geist', she explained: "In the beginning, I'd go to work at four in the morning, work all day, most of the night, go home at midnight and start again at four in the morning.

"It was really difficult because I just wanted to build th...