Inside Duff Goldman's Relationship With His Wife Johnna

Duff Goldman was a bachelor for the entire run of his popular Food Network show "The Ace of Cakes." The show aired from 2006 until 2011, sharing the inner workings of his innovative bakery, Charm City Cakes, in Baltimore, Maryland. After "The Ace of Cakes" ended, Goldman continued on the Food Network, starring in shows like "Kids Baking Championship" with his co-host Valerie Bertinelli and "Buddy vs. Duff." The baker remained a bachelor, however, having sworn off marriage completely. That was, of course, until 2016. That was the year that Goldman met Johnna Colbry; the chef and baker quickly fell in love, and the rest was history.

The couple started off their relationship at a rapid clip, jetting off to Hawaii just a few weeks after first meeting. They were married in 2019, and welcomed their first daughter into the world in 2021. Being with Johnna seems to have completely changed Goldman, who has transformed both physically and emotionally. From their first meeting to today, these are all of the details about Duff Goldman's relationship with Johnna.

So, who is the mysterious woman that made Duff Goldman fall in love and get married, something he long said that he would never do? Johnna Goldman, née Colbry, is a California native. Born in 1993, Johnna is 19 years her husband's junior. She was raised by single mother Rebecca Colbry in Los Angeles, and while she has resided in the Sunshine State for most of her life, she also spent her final year of high school in Oklahoma, studying at the Tulsa School of Arts and Science. After high school, Johnna attended Santa Monica College while simultaneously working part-time as a model for the popular clothing brand Hollister.

In the years leading up to her marriage with Duff, Johnna worked various jobs, including jobs in fashion sales, such as her role at Roots, as well as working as the assistant manager at GREATS, a sneaker company. Now, according to her Instagram bio, Johnna is a writer. She is a deeply creative person in general, as she is also a visual artist and plays the flute.

Duff Goldman and Johnna Goldman met, of all places, on Tinder. The couple connected in 2016. Perhaps they hit it off so well because they are both creative spirits; Duff is a master cake decorator who had his own show on the Food Network, "The Ace of Cakes," and Johnna, among other creative pursuits, is a fiber artist. No matter the draw, it was clear that the couple had a deep, instantaneous connection; they spent seven hours together on their first date. Only a couple of weeks later, the pair went on a spontaneous trip to Hawaii together. It didn't take long for them to get married, either –- they tied the knot in January 2019.

Not only did the couple connect over their creative spirits, but they serve as inspiration to each other; it was Johnna and their daughter Josephine who encouraged Duff to pursue his passion of woodworking, which is now his hobby in their Los Angeles home.

Duff Goldman and his wife Johnna Goldman's romance was a whirlwind one. The couple met in 2016 and got married in January of 2019. Duff, however, didn't necessarily plan on things moving so quickly. Instead, on one ordinary morning in April 2018, Duff came to a shocking realization. He wrote in a caption on Instagram (via People), "I was shaving my head when like a mule kick to the heart I realized that I am absolutely in love with Johnna ... and I can't imagine living another day without her in my life."

This revelation led Duff to a fateful decision; that very afternoon, he proposed to Johnna. Because all of these thoughts, feelings, and decisions were so spur of the moment, the celebrity chef didn't even have a ring in hand. Instead, he proposed to his future wife with a ring made out of butcher's twine – very appropriate for a chef. Duff did, however, wait several hours between deciding to propose and actually popping the question. In these few hours, the chef and baker managed to ask Johnna's mother for permission. After an Easter dinner with Johnna and her relatives, he proposed. She said yes, and the rest is history.

While Duff Goldman's proposal to his now-wife Johnna was extremely romantic, the truth is that before he met her, Goldman had sworn off marriage. According to the celebrity chef, his parents went through a brutal divorce when Goldman was a child. The breakup was so excruciating for all parties involved that Goldman decided that he would never, ever put himself through the same experience — and for him, this meant never getting married at all.

Enter Johnna. While at the time, neither party was looking for a serious relationship, Goldman and Johnna fell in love pretty much instantaneously. In an interview with People, the chef and baker said, "I was like, 'Oh, that's how you're supposed to feel about people.'" The chef went on to describe how Johnna changed his mind not only about marriage but about love in general. "We have a one-in-a-million relationship," he told People, "I never thought I would have this kind of capacity for love."

Less than a year after Duff Goldman proposed to his now-wife, Johnna, the couple exchanged vows at the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles. They invited 250 of their closest friends and family to a magical night at the museum, complete with a petting zoo of live animals. The couple loves animals, so the venue just made sense. Their wedding planner transformed the museum into a magical place with a variety of floral decor, and they married in a chapel in front of the giant dinosaur fossil. The museum even stayed open late into the night so that the guests could explore.

Perhaps the biggest showstopper of the evening, however, were the five (yes, five!) cakes served at the event. There was an ocean-themed cake, which hung from the ceiling like bubbles rising from the depths of the sea. There was a classic white cake, as well as two sheet cakes. The final cake, or the "groom's cake," was actually made completely out of meat. Only the Ace of Cakes could come up with something like that, right?

In January of 2021, Duff Goldman and his wife, Johnna Goldman, welcomed their first baby into the world. Josephine Frances Goldman, the couple's first and only child, is a baby girl who came into the world weighing 8 pounds, 2 ounces. The couple was completely overjoyed, with Duff sharing in an Instagram caption (via People), "Some friends have told me that the love I'll experience when looking at my daughter will be different than anything I've ever experienced and they were totally right."

Since her birth, Duff has allowed Josephine to completely transform his life. He calls his daughter his muse, inspiring him creatively. In recent years, Duff has developed a woodworking hobby, and loves crafting toys for his beloved daughter. Additionally, as Josephine grew older and more active, she inspired her father to get into shape, leading the chef to lose 40 pounds in 6 months. "Making the right decisions becomes so much less of a chore because you're making those decisions for somebody that's relying on you," he told People.

Since marrying Johnna and moving to Los Angeles, Duff Goldman has relaxed. For many years, fans watched the celebrity baker create hundreds of hyper-realistic cakes in the fast-paced environment of his Baltimore, Maryland cake shop, Charm City Cakes. When the show ended in 2011, Duff moved on to other Food Network competition shows such as "Kids Baking Championship" or "Buddy vs. Duff," where Goldman and fellow baker Buddy Valastro challenged each other in a head-to-head competition to see who would be crowned as the king of cakes.

However, none of this high-paced competition exists in Duff and Johnna's beautiful, secluded LA home. Duff moved out west after "Ace of Cakes" ended in 2011 to open "Charm City Cakes West." In 2022, however, the baker closed this location. Now, aside from his shows on the Food Network, Duff spends his time being creative at home. He does his woodworking, spends time with his daughter and wife, and writes his cookbooks. According to Duff, his new laid-back attitude is all because of his house (which is surrounded by nature), his wife, and his hobbies.

While he may not be running a bakery and cake shop anymore, Duff Goldman still spends plenty of time cooking. He spends time baking in his Los Angeles home, which is where he shoots his cookbooks. He also loves spending time in the kitchen with his daughter, Josephine. In an exclusive interview with Mashed, Goldman explained how Josephine helps him bake cookies. According to Goldman, Josephine helps add ingredients and taste the batter. "She really likes doing stuff with me and sometimes she likes to sit back and watch, which is totally cool because I can see she's absorbing it and she really likes it," he said.

The chef also shared that his daughter loves strawberries. Goldman sometimes does baking classes on Zoom, which leaves him with excess cookies and pastries that he shares with his local neighbors. Apparently, his daughter isn't the only strawberry-obsessed one around, because Goldman shared that strawberry-rhubarb was the most popular flavor.

On February 1, 2024, Duff Goldman suffered an injury to his hand when an allegedly drunk driver smashed into his car head-on. The chef, who was being driven home from the airport, says that it was as if the whole accident happened in slow motion. According to Goldman, the canyon he lives in is very windy, and when the other driver came around a turn far too quickly, Goldman had a moment when his life seemed to flash before his eyes. He told People, "I just saw my wife and my daughter. It was nuts."

While everyone survived the crash, all parties involved were taken to the hospital. Goldman's right hand was crushed in the incident, making it impossible for him to return to baking, woodworking, or playing music in the subsequent months. Since the accident, Goldman has been recovering with his family and cherishing every moment that he has with his wife and young daughter, Josephine. "I've been hugging my family a lot. I think they're getting sick of it," he told People.

Whether you should post pictures of your kids online or not is a huge controversy right now — especially for celebrities. Duff Goldman isn't particularly worried about that. He loves sharing happy family moments with his daughter on social media, including Instagram posts of them cooking together and even going to places like Disneyland. "I think other people are more worried about it than I am. My wife, the same thing," he said in an exclusive interview with the Daily Meal.

He can't believe that anyone would have a negative reaction to his daughter going to Disneyland, as he has trouble seeing it as anything other than adorable. On top of that, Goldman says, he just isn't very famous. Sure, the baker will get recognized from time to time, but it doesn't stop him from living a pretty normal life. In fact, Goldman thinks that people appreciate how down-to-earth he and his wife are; by sharing their lives on Instagram, fans can see that Goldman and his wife Johnna are just like everybody else. 

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