The chef-owner of the famed Maine eatery “The Lost Kitchen” disclosed in her book, “Finding Freedom” how divorce and a pharmaceutical drug issue almost lost her all. This also involved her one and only son, Jaim, whom she raised as a single mother after her divorce from her ex-husband, Todd French.
She became pregnant during her college days, so she dropped out of her medical studies and went back home to raise her son.
Table of Contents
Chef Erin French’s Background
French’s achievement in culinary appears to be predetermined in several ways. She was brought up in Freedom and would often sit at a table in her father’s café to do her schoolwork in the evenings.
As per her, there are recollections from her entire life there. She leaped into several tasks, doing anything from serving tables to making pancakes to scrubbing plates. Her whole family was centered on food.
Yet, she continued to yearn for adventures beyond the tiny life, so she moved to Boston to attend Northeastern Universityto pursue medicine. After she became impregnated at 21 by a high-school lover, she decided to quit college shortly thereafter and relocated right back. She tossed everything away because she assumed she had been offered the shot.
Chef French’s son Jaim
Erin was blessed with a son named “Jaim” from her former high-school love on 13th September 2002. Jaim’s name holds a beautiful meaning, which translates to “I love” in French (J’aime).
French was a single mother who brought up Jaim and developed her culinary expertise in her parent’s kitchen. She also had a second romance down the road and eventually married a Belfast boatbuilder, Todd French, in 2006.
The couple resided in Belfast, where her eight-year-old son, Jaim, was brought up.
After the split from her ex-husband, Todd, Erin was left to raise her son alone. Erin remembers being afraid and broken, but a look at her son’s face would take away all the pain.
Chef French lost Jaim to her ex-husband
By 2010 the former single mom was hosting acquaintances for dinner parties called “Secret Suppers” at their flat in adjacent Belfast on Saturday nights. She honed her gorgeous but basic cookery practice there, incorporating anything available and seasonal.
Her apartment retro was a huge success leading the couple to have enough to open a restaurant in 2012. However, that was only the frontal scene of Erin’s life, on the other end, she was suffering from her toxic marriage with Todd.
Apparently, the Belfast boatbuilder was rather a jealous man of his wife’s achievement. According to Erin in her book “Finding Freedom,” he constantly belittled her and made her pathetic.
This lead her to saught prescriptions for her depressed and anxious mental health, which soon caused her to be addicted to pills. She joined a treatment facility in 2013 and recovered. However, her ordeal was just the beginning.
Todd had discreetly shuttered their restaurant and switched the locks when she was merely away for a couple of days into her two-week therapy. The chef sought divorce right after that. However, all she was left with was debt and a hectic divorce and custody battle.
Due to her previous drug addiction, she lost custody of her son and also her restaurant to her ex-husband.
Jaim and Erin, today
Nevertheless, the famous American chef held her stand, although life had thrown her into hurdles during her marriage with Todd. After some time, she proceeded again by establishing one of the dinner clubs out of an old Airstream trailer.
Despite feeling as though her despair would last forever, French rose stronger and prepared to open her subsequent eatery. Although she lost her custody of Jamie to her ex-husband previously, ultimately, she was granted shared custody of Jaim, and when he reached 16 in 2018, he had the decision of relocating permanently with his mother.
She also got remarried to her second husband, Michael Dutton in the same year in August. French now, lives a successful life as a restaurant owner, famous chef, TV persona, and author with her husband in Freedom, Maine.
She has authored three books so far, and one of them, “The Lost Kitchen Cookbook” was ranked as one of the finest cookbooks by The Washington Post, Remodelista, and Vogue. Additionally, she hosts a famous cookery program, “The Lost Kitchen” featuring her restaurant. Her son, Jaim, is now 21 and follows a very private life away from the spotlight.
