Emeril Lagasse’s Kids: All About His Talented Son E.J. & More
What To Know
- Emeril Lagasse’s son, E.J. Lagasse, took over his father’s New Orleans restaurant and is a rising star in the culinary world.
- Emeril has four children: Jessica, Jillian, E.J., and Meril.
Emeril Lagasse is easily one of the most recognizable celebrity chefs — he put Food Network on the map with his cooking show Emeril Live — and his son is well on his way to becoming famous in his own right. In fact, E.J. Lagasse is already famous in the food world. After taking over his dad’s New Orleans restaurant, he earned two Michelin stars, becoming the youngest chef ever to do so.
Now 23, E.J. is only a few years older than his dad was when he became a parent with his first wife, Elizabeth Kief. They welcomed two daughters. “I was 19 years old, growing up very Catholic,” Emeril told Time in 2023. “I maybe wasn’t so hunky dory as far as being a parent, because I was working 80 hours a week, six days a week, two jobs, trying to make ends meet. And it was very difficult being a parent at the time.”
Years later, the chef remarried to his current wife, Alden, and had two more children. “And that’s a whole different perspective, because my career was already established to a degree,” he explained. “My financial situation obviously was much different. So that life is very, very different than the first. And by the way, I’m very close to all of my children. We have a really great relationship, although we may be miles apart.”
Keep reading for more details about E.J.’s career and his siblings’ backgrounds.
Who are Emeril Lagasse’s kids?
Jessica “Jessie” Lagasse Swanson
E.J. isn’t the only one of the Lagasse kids with the cooking gene. Born in August 1979, Jessica and her sister spent time with their dad in the kitchen during their childhood. “The prize at the end of the day would be to do a family dinner and have family time before they went to bed,” Emeril told Time. “I tried to help with homework, I tried to help with activities that they were doing, but it was a very, very difficult situation.”
He continued, “And so, when we moved from the northeast to New Orleans, that’s when things got really shaky. They had great life, but it didn’t have a lot of dad time. We got separated; my wife moved back to the northeast where she had family. I was in New Orleans, obviously still with financial constraints. It was very difficult. It was a long distance relationship with my kids, and so I could only do what I could do.”
After adopting a gluten-free diet in 2001, Jessica and her sister wrote two cookbooks: The Gluten Free Table and The Lagasse Girls’ Big Flavor, Bold Taste and No Gluten. “Her love of cooking and interest in learning about food was fostered, at first, by her father,” says The Lagasse Girls website. “As she got older, however, Jessie found that almost every person has some valuable food lesson to impart and she began collecting these every chance she could.”
Per their website, Jessica currently lives in New Orleans with her husband, Steven, and two sons, Jude and John Peter.
Jillian “Jilly” Lagasse
Jillian was born to Emeril and Elizabeth in October 1981. She also got involved in the kitchen from an early age. During her childhood, her dad allowed her to start helping in the Pastry and Dessert Department in one of his restaurants, according to The Lagasse Girls website. She tagged along on Emeril’s book tours and events, and before she wrote her own cookbook, Jillian helped him write Emeril’s Creole Christmas cookbook.
In 2004, Jillian stepped away from cooking. She moved to England to go to makeup and airbrush artistry school, which led to her working in Los Angeles, Mumbai, and New York City. She worked with her father behind the camera, becoming the staff makeup artist for Emeril’s Table and The Cooking Channel’s The Originals. She established a career in luxury spas and hotels as a massage therapist and aesthetician.
In 2024, Jillian began working at Blush Beauty Lounge in Florida. Jillian is married to Andrew Yeum, with whom she has a daughter, Eleanor “Ellie” Yeum.
Emeril John “E.J.” Lagasse IV
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Born in March 2003, E.J. told his parents that he wanted to become a chef when he was around 12 years old. As his dad’s career flourished and he bounced between his restaurant in New Orleans and filming in New York, E.J. was often with him in the kitchen and studio, per E.J.’s June 2026 interview with GQ.
E.J. graduated from high school early to attend Johnson & Wales’ culinary school, his dad’s alma mater. “So as time evolved with him, we spent a lot of time obviously in the kitchen working together,” his dad told Time. “You know, one of the things that I told him was that he had to leave the nest, and he did. He moved to New York City on his own, worked at Le Bernardin [at 14 years old]. Then he moved to London, he worked at Core with Clare Smyth. Then he went to Lisbon, then Stockholm. Then the call came, and it was like, ‘Okay E.J., it’s your dad here. It’s time to go to work.’ And so he is now the the chef patron at the flagship, Emeril’s.”
He took over his dad’s New Orleans-based restaurant at 19 and reinvented and refined its menu. That was four years and two Michelin stars ago. This year, he was named a finalist for a James Beard Award.
E.J. is currently dating ski-resort wear designer and influencer McKaelyn Guidry. She’s the daughter of Shane Guidry, a Louisiana businessman involved in the energy industry. According to GQ, he’s one of the state’s biggest GOP donors.
Meril Lagasse
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The youngest of the family is Meril — nicknamed “Mookie” — who was born in 2004. Her dad named one of his restaurants after her. Since 2023, Meril has been studying at the University of Mississippi, where she’s a member of the Tri Delta sorority.
