Jessica Seinfeld

Nina Sklar was born in Oyster Bay, New York, the middle child of three daughters, and grew up in a middle-class Jewish household in Burlington, Vermont.{{Cite web|url=https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/is-jessica-seinfeld-the-anti-gwyneth-paltrow|title=Jessica Seinfeld's New Cookbook—Her Fourth—Is Refreshing and Notable for Its Approachability - Tablet Magazine}} Her mother was a Victims Service Advocate for more than 50 years and an attendance officer at Hunt Middle School, while her father was a computer software engineer.

After graduating from the University of Vermont, Sklar worked in public relations for Golden Books Entertainment and Tommy Hilfiger.{{cite web |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9503E1DD1F3AF937A25755C0A96E958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print |title=WEDDINGS; Jessica Sklar, Eric Nederlander |work=The New York Times |date=1998-06-14 |access-date=2014-07-19}}

She founded Baby Buggy in 2001 following the birth of her first child. She started with a donation drive, whereby she asked people for their used baby supplies after realizing that her first child's products, no longer of use to her own family, could be used by others.{{cite news |title=Her Name Is Famous, but She's Not About Nothing |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/08/giving/her-name-is-famous-but-shes-not-about-nothing.html |access-date=31 January 2014 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=7 November 2013 |first=Robin |last=Pogrebin}} As of May 2013, Baby Buggy has donated over six million items to New York families since the organization was established.{{cite news |title=Jessica Seinfeld's Baby Buggy Charity |url=http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/segment/jessica-seinfeld-baby-buggy/5181566002a7603646000107 |access-date=31 January 2014 |newspaper=Huffington Post |date=8 May 2013 |author=Abbe Huntsman |format=Video}}

Baby Buggy works with a network of over 50 community-based organizations (CBOs) that are carefully selected.{{cite web |title=What We Do |url=http://babybuggy.org/what-we-do/what-we-do/ |work=Baby Buggy |access-date=31 January 2014 |year=2001–2012}} Some of the organizations that have partnered with Baby Buggy include organizations working with victims of domestic violence such as Safe Horizon{{Cite web |url=https://www.chapin.edu/uploaded/pdfs/outside/lower_school/beyond_classroom/LSCS_Projects.pdf |title=The Chapin School Lower School Community Service Projects |access-date=July 11, 2017}} and New York Asian Women's Center, now known as Womankind; multi-service sites including Single Stop East Harlem and Lenox Hill Neighborhood House; prenatal and NICU units at hospitals such as Woodhull and NY Presbyterian; immigrant and refugee-serving organizations including the International Rescue Committee; and parenting programs, such as the Nurse-Family Partnership program and the Harlem Children's Zone's Baby College.{{citation needed|date=January 2014}}

About $2 Million of Baby Buggy's budget is made up of in-kind product donations from individuals and corporations. Financial support for the organization comes from its board of directors, the friends of Baby Buggy group, private individuals, corporations and foundations. As of 2008, 88 cents of every dollar received by Baby Buggy went straight to programs.{{cite web |url=http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=10256 |title=Charity Navigator Rating – Baby Buggy |publisher=Charitynavigator.org |access-date=2014-07-19}} In 2013, Baby Buggy received its fourth Four Star rating from Charity Navigator. The charity is also an Accredited Charity of the Better Business Bureau.

In July 2010, Baby Buggy launched a layette collection with Target Corporation, with 10% of sales going to help families in need.{{cite web |url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/alltherage/2010/07/organic-onsies-and-baby-clothes-that-give-back-at-target.html |title=Organic onesies and baby clothes that give back, at Target |publisher=Latimesblogs.latimes.com |date=2010-07-07 |access-date=2014-07-19}} The layette line was designed by illustrator and children's book author Maira Kalman.

In 2016, Baby Buggy was rebranded as the Good Plus Foundation (also seen as Good+ Foundation).{{Cite web |url=https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/jessica-seinfeld-helping-families-good-foundation/story?id=38160885 |title=Jessica Seinfeld on Helping Families in Need With the Good Plus Foundation |date=2016-04-05|website=ABC News |access-date=2017-06-02}} As Baby Buggy, the nonprofit had seen 20 million items donated to families across the United States. She shared with "Good Morning America" co-anchor George Stephanopoulos that the charity had outgrown its name.{{Citation needed|date=July 2017}}

File:Ali Wentworth Jessica Seinfeld 2012 Shankbone.JPG (left) at the 2012 premiere of What to Expect When You're Expecting]]In October 2007, she released her first cookbook, Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food,{{cite web |url=http://www.doitdelicious.com/cookbooks/deceptively_delicious/ |title=Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld : Cookbooks |publisher=do it Delicious |access-date=2014-07-19}} which contains strategies and recipes for making healthy food appealing to young children. The book features traditional recipes, such as mac and cheese and spaghetti and meatballs, that get a nutritional boost from vegetable purees. Deceptively Delicious was featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, became a No. 1 New York Times best seller, remaining on the list for five months after its release.[http://www.harpercollinscatalogs.com/harper/516_1679_313835333431.htm William Morrow] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711145452/http://www.harpercollinscatalogs.com/harper/516_1679_313835333431.htm |date=July 11, 2011 }} The book also reached No. 1 on Amazon.com and No. 2 on the USA Today best-seller list. Expert Joy Bauer added nutritional advice to the recipes, while Roxana Mehran and Mehmet Oz wrote the foreword. A portion of the royalties from Deceptively Delicious was donated to Baby Buggy.{{cite web |url=http://www.harpercollins.com/books/Deceptively-Delicious-Jessica-Seinfeld/?isbn=9780061558306 |title=Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld |publisher=Harpercollins.com |access-date=2014-07-19}}

In October 2010, Seinfeld released her second cookbook, Double Delicious! Good, Simple Food for Busy, Complicated Lives,{{cite web |url=http://www.doitdelicious.com/cookbooks/double_delicious/ |title=Double Delicious! by Jessica Seinfeld : Cookbooks |publisher=do it Delicious |access-date=2014-07-19}} which shared more healthy twists on traditional recipes, and incorporated vegetable purees, whole grains, and alternatives to processed sugars and flours. Like her first book, Double Delicious! was featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show.{{Cite web |title=The Oprah Show - Oprah.com |url=http://www.oprah.com/packages/jessica-seinfeld.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101029201956/http://www.oprah.com/packages/jessica-seinfeld.html |archive-date=2010-10-29 |access-date=2023-04-10 |website=Oprah.com}}

In 2013 she released her third cookbook, The Can't Cook Book, billed as "100 recipes for the absolutely terrified!" In 2017 she released her fourth cookbook, Food Swings.{{Cite web |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/jessica-seinfeld-opens-cooking-family-book-food-swings/story?id=46973393 |title=Jessica Seinfeld opens up about her new cookbook |date=2017-04-24 |website=ABC News |access-date=2017-07-11}}

In 2021, she adopted a plant-based diet.[https://www.news-herald.com/2021/12/02/jessica-seinfeld-encourages-you-to-go-vegan-no-pressure/ "Jessica Seinfeld encourages you to go vegan, no pressure"]. News-herald.com. Retrieved 14 January 2022.[https://serendipitysocial.com/jessica-seinfeld/ "Jessica Seinfeld on Being Vegan, Sometimes"]. serendipitysocial.com. Retrieved 14 January 2022. She authored a vegan cookbook titled Vegan, at Times for those "who cannot quite commit" to a vegan diet all the time.

SHE Media lists Seinfeld as one of “22 Celebrity Moms Whose Cookbooks Will Solve Your Dinner Problems.”{{cite web

|url=https://www.sheknows.com/food-and-recipes/slideshow/2528366/celebrity-mom-cookbooks/1/

|title=22 Celebrity Moms Whose Cookbooks Will Solve Your Dinner Problems |access-date=2025-01-17 |last=Savane |first=Erickka |date=2025-01-14 |work=SHE Media}}

In October 2010, Seinfeld launched a website for beginner cooks called "Do it Delicious."{{cite web |url=http://www.doitdelicious.com/ |title=Welcome to do it Delicious |publisher=Doitdelicious.com |date=2013-12-01 |access-date=2014-07-19}} The website teaches at-home viewers how to prepare particular dishes or meals step-by-step, as well as a kitchen guide, store, blog, and community forum where users can submit tips and ask how-to questions.{{cite web |url=http://www.doitdelicious.com/about |title=About Us |publisher=do it Delicious |access-date=2014-07-19}}

File:Jessica Seinfeld Jerry Seinfeld Shankbone 2010.jpg in New York, April 2010]]

In June 1998, Jessica married Eric Nederlander, a theatrical producer and the son of theater owner Robert Nederlander. In early August, after the wedding and a honeymoon in Italy with Nederlander, she met Jerry Seinfeld at a Reebok Sports Club and they began dating.{{cite book |year = 2002 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=uWGr2sb_uvgC&q=oppenheimer+seinfeld+%22american+icon%22&pg=PP1| title = Seinfeld: The Making of an American Icon | author = Jerry Oppenheimer | publisher = HarperCollins|isbn = 9780062030818}} Nederlander filed for divorce in October 1998, only four months after marriage.{{cite web|last=Gliatto |first=Tom |url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20129837,00.html |title=Jerry Engaged? Get Out! |publisher=People |access-date=2014-07-19}} Sklar and Seinfeld became engaged in November 1999 and were married on December 25, 1999.{{cite web|url=http://www.eonline.com/news/39179/jerry-seinfeld-married-man |title=Jerry Seinfeld, Married Man |publisher=Eonline.com |date=1999-12-26 |access-date=2014-07-19}}{{cite web |date=2000-01-02 |title=Jerry & Jessica's Wedding Kosher |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/2000/01/02/jerry-jessicas-wedding-kosher/ |access-date=2025-04-22 |website=New York Daily News}} Comedian George Wallace was the best man at the wedding.

After much criticism from Nederlander on Sklar's divorce and subsequent marriage, the Seinfelds gave a personal account of their relationship to Vogue in 2004. Jessica Seinfeld is quoted as having said, {{cquote|I met Jerry at the end of what was the most difficult period of my life. I had just made a painful decision to dissolve a five-year relationship that began when I was 21 and culminated in a brief marriage. Jerry was neither the cause nor the effect of the breakup but his friendship gave me strength and resilience at a time of desperate need and it has formed the basis for my happiness in the years that have followed.{{cite web|author=Dapur Solia |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/55514505@N03/5145852405/in/photostream |title=VOGUE 4 | Flickr – Photo Sharing! |publisher=Flickr |date=2010-11-10 |access-date=2014-07-19}}}}

Jerry Seinfeld has said, "If it wasn't for Jess and the kids, I'd really blow my brains out. Jessica saved my life. She gave me something to care about."{{cite web|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/55514505@N03/5146452358/in/photostream/ |title=VOGUE 3 | Flickr – Photo Sharing! |publisher=Flickr |date=2010-11-04 |access-date=2014-07-19}}

The Seinfelds have three children, two sons and a daughter, all born in New York City.{{cite news|last1=Rush |first1=George|author2=Mitchell Fink| author3=Ruth Bashinsky|author4=Lauren Rubin|url=https://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/baby-seinfeld-deliver-daughter-named-sascha-jerry-jessica-article-1.889446|title=Oh, Baby! Seinfeld can still deliver Daughter named Sascha for Jerry and Jessica|work=Daily News|location=New York City|date=November 8, 2000 |access-date=November 21, 2019}}{{cite magazine|last=Silverman|first=Stephen M.|url= http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,625617,00.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080319232727/http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,625617,00.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= March 19, 2008 |title=Jerry Seinfeld's a Daddy Once More – Jerry Seinfeld |magazine=People|date=July 3, 1998|access-date=2014-07-19}}{{cite web|url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/people/a-boy-for-jerry/2005/08/26/1124563009721.html |title=A boy for Jerry|work=The Age|date=26 August 2005|location=Melbourne, Australia|access-date=2014-07-19}}{{cite magazine|last=Peterson |first=Todd |url= http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,1098099,00.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070616085012/http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,1098099,00.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= June 16, 2007 |title=Jerry Seinfeld & Wife Welcome Third Child – |magazine=People|date=2005-08-25 |access-date=2014-07-19}}

Her first book, Deceptively Delicious, was published by HarperCollins on January 7, 2008, and contained a series of recipes to hide pureed fruits and vegetables inside children's meals.

Following the book's release, another cookbook author, Missy Chase Lapine, sued both Seinfelds, accusing Jessica of copyright and trademark infringement.{{cite web |last=Donahue |first=Deirdre |url=https://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2007-10-21-seinfeld-book_N.htm |title=Cookbook author says Seinfeld book 'Deceptively' similar |work=USA Today |date=2007-10-22 |access-date=2014-07-19}} Lapine had unsuccessfully shopped her own manuscript, The Sneaky Chef, to several publishers, including HarperCollins, before publishing with Running Press.[https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/19/nyregion/19seinfeld.html How to Get Junior to Eat His Veggies Turns Out to Be (Too) Common Knowledge] The New York Times.

In response to the accusations, she denied that either author had invented the idea of hiding fruits and vegetables in children's meals and asserted that "countless prior works utilized this very same unprotectable idea" in cookbooks dating back to 1971.{{cite web |url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/people/bat-warb-seinfeld-sued-over-threenamed-assassin-line/2008/06/19/1213770787825.html |title=Seinfeld sued over 'three-named assassin' line |publisher=The Age |date=2008-06-19 |access-date=2014-07-19}} She claimed, "My book came from years of trying to get my own children to eat healthy foods—my own trial and error in my own kitchen. The idea of pureeing vegetables has been around for decades."

In the same lawsuit, Lapine also accused Jerry Seinfeld of defamation after he appeared on Late Show with David Letterman on October 29, 2007, and called Lapine "angry and hysterical", a "wacko", a "stalker" and a "nut job", suggesting that "people with three names ... become assassins."{{cite web |title=Judge throws out defamation suit against Jerry Seinfeld |url=https://nypost.com/2011/02/25/judge-throws-out-defamation-suit-against-jerry-seinfeld/ |author=Dareh Gregorian |work=New York Post |date=2011-02-25 |access-date=2014-03-09}}{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/books/09/10/seinfeld.cookbook/ |title=Jessica Seinfeld wins plagiarism case against her |date=2009-09-11 |work=CNN}}

In 2009, U.S. District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain dismissed all claims against Jessica Seinfeld but left open the claim of defamation against her husband, to be tried in New York state court.{{cite news |url=https://nypost.com/2010/03/12/cookbook-creator-sues-seinfeld-for-barbs-on-letterman/ |title=Cookbook creator sues Seinfeld for barbs on Letterman |author=Dareh Gregorian |date=2010-03-10|work=New York Post}} The federal judge ruled that "no reasonable fact finder could conclude" that any copying occurred and that the books were "very different" and had "a completely different feel."{{cite news |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/books/09/10/seinfeld.cookbook/index.html |title=Jessica Seinfeld wins plagiarism case against her |work=CNN |date=2009-09-11 |access-date=2014-07-19}}

Lapine appealed the decision,{{cite news |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/judge-shoots-sneaky-chef-missy-chase-lapine-case-jerry-seinfeld-wife-article-1.169792 |title=Judge shoots down 'Sneaky Chef' Missy Chase Lapine's case against Jerry Seinfeld's wife |newspaper=NY Daily News |date=2010-04-26 |access-date=29 April 2020}} but the dismissal was affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals in 2010.{{cite news |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/jerry-seinfeld-wife-jessica-wins-cookbook-lawsuit-sneaky-chef-missy-chase-lapine-article-1.169741 |title=Jerry Seinfeld's wife, Jessica, wins cookbook lawsuit against 'The Sneaky Chef' Missy Chase Lapine |newspaper=NY Daily News |date=29 April 2010 |access-date=29 April 2020}} In 2011, the state court dismissed the remaining defamation claim against Jerry Seinfeld.

{{reflist}}

• {{Official|jessicaseinfeld.com}}
• {{IMDb name|1367997}}

{{Jerry Seinfeld}}

{{Plant-based diets}}

{{Authority control}}

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Category:1971 births

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Category:Nederlander family

Category:People from Oyster Bay (town), New York

Category:Plant-based diet advocates

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