Jessica Seinfeld

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Jessica Seinfeld (nee Nina Danielle Sklar, born September 12, 1971 in Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York) is the wife of comedian Jerry Seinfeld and author of a cookbook for preparing food for children. She graduated from the University of Vermont, and worked in public relations for Golden Books Entertainment ^[1], as well as for Tommy Hilfiger. She met her current husband at a Manhattan gym in 1998, just before she married Broadway scion Eric Nederlander, on June 13 of that year. ^[2] After she returned from her honeymoon, Sklar took up with Seinfeld, and her husband filed for divorce in mid-October. Sklar and Seinfeld became engaged in early November 1998, and were married on December 25, 1999. They now have a daughter, Sascha, and two sons, Julian Kal and Shepherd Kellen.

In 2000, Seinfeld launched Baby Buggy, a charity that provides clothing and gear for the infants and young children of low-income women. The organization works with 60 social services agencies to distribute nearly 100,000 baby products a year. ^[3]

[edit] Cookbook controversy

In 2007, Seinfeld published the cookbook Deceptively Delicious, which contains strategies and recipes for making healthy food appealing to young children. She was featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, and the book reached Number 1 on Amazon.com, Number 2 on the USA Today best-seller list, and Number 1 on the The New York Times Advice, How-To and Miscellaneous list. The book, however, stirred controversy when it was alleged that more than a dozen of the same recipes in Seinfeld's book appeared in another author's cookbook, The Sneaky Chef by Missy Chase Lapine, published earlier that year. ^[4] The unusual combinations that appear in Lapine's recipes — such as spinach in brownies, avocado in chocolate pudding, and sweet potato in grilled cheese sandwiches — also appear in Seinfeld's book. ^[5] Lapine had twice unsuccessfully shopped her manuscript to Seinfeld's publisher (HarperCollins) only months before it chose to publish Seinfeld's instead.

In response to the accusations, Seinfeld told The New York Times: "I don’t need to copy someone’s idea. I’ve got enough going on in my life." ^[6] Her husband, in an appearance on Late Night with David Letterman, called Lapine a "wacko" and said his wife was being "accused of a Watergate-style break-in." ^[7]

On January 7, 2008, Missy Chase Lapine, author of The Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids' Favorite Meals sued Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld for defamation, plagiarism, or copyright and trademark infringement in the Manhattan, U.S. District Court. Richard Menaker, the Seinfelds' counsel, accused Lapine of seeking publicity on Seinfeld's book sales.^[8]