Celebrity chef Alison Roman expecting first child with husband Max Cantor

Alison Roman has announced she’s pregnant with her first child.

On September 9, the celebrity chef shared on Instagram that she was expecting her first baby with husband Max Cantor. The 39-year-old used the couple’s first wedding anniversary to announce they were becoming parents.

“Yesterday was our anniversary and I wore the same dress I wore to our after party,” Roman, known for her viral recipes, began her caption. The cookbook author was photographed wearing a white silk strapless gown, which showed off her growing baby bump, and joked that she “still fit into it, sort of.”

“We went back to Keens and took photos underneath the tiger portrait since we forgot to on the day of our wedding,” Roman said, referring to the New York City steakhouse where the couple hosted their wedding. “I cried on and off all day thinking of how lucky I am to have found such a big, outrageous love in my lifetime with the best, most wonderful person I have ever had the privilege of knowing. How lucky is this baby to have you as their dad? Crying again now, thinking how we both are so, so lucky.”

She added: “Thank you for taking care of me and for learning to cook when I couldn’t, sort of (keeping me in cold fruit and beige starch was the directive and you did great). I love you the most most most.”

The Brooklyn-based chef and the director were married on September 9, 2023. Roman announced the pair had tied the knot on Instagram , sharing a Polaroid photo of the couple with the numbers “9.9.23” written across the top and “save the date!” on the bottom.

“To anyone thinking of sliding into the DMs, do it! You could end up getting married (not to me, I’m now married),” she captioned the post.

The former New York Times food columnist went viral during the Covid-19 pandemic for her shallot pasta recipe, commonly known as #ThePasta. She also sparked a public feud between herself and Chrissy Teigen after Roman made controversial comments regarding the success of Marie Kondo and Teigen in an interview with The New Consumer in May 2020.

In the interview, Roman said she was “horrified” by Teigen’s brand, Cravings, which she referred to as a “content farm,” and claimed that lifestyle guru Kondo “f**king sold out immediately.”

Teigen called the accusations from the fellow food writer a “huge bummer,” writing on social media: “I don’t think I’ve ever been so bummed out by the words of a fellow food-lover. I just had no idea I was perceived that way, by her especially.”

Others accused the Nothing Fancy author of racism, considering both Teigen and Kondo are of Asian descent. Following the backlash, Roman issued two public apologies. In response to Teigen, she expressed that she was “genuinely sorry I caused you pain with what I said.” In another more in-depth apology , Roman admitted that remarks were “tone-deaf” and acknowledged her comments “were rooted in my own insecurity.”

Roman also addressed the accusations of racism and her own white privilege, adding: “I’m not the victim here, and my insecurities don’t excuse this behavior. I’m a white woman who has and will continue to benefit from white privilege and I recognize that makes what I said even more inexcusable and hurtful.

“The fact it didn’t occur to me that I had singled out two Asian women is one hundred percent a function of my privilege (being blind to racial insensitivities is a discriminatory luxury).”

Roman’s New York Times column was later placed on “temporary leave,” and seven months later she announced she was leaving her role as a food columnist.