The Man Anne Burrell Called Her Prince Charming: Who Was Stuart Claxton to Her?
Anne Burrell was never short of words. As one of Food Network’s most expressive personalities, she had a gift for describing food, people, and life with vivid, unforgettable language. So when Anne fell in love with Stuart Claxton, the world got something rare — a celebrity relationship told almost entirely in the woman’s own voice.
Through interviews, Instagram posts, television appearances, and casual conversations with journalists, Anne Burrell left behind a remarkably detailed picture of what Stuart Claxton meant to her. This article tells their story the way Anne herself told it — through her words, her feelings, and the life she chose to build with him.
“I Am a Very Lucky Girl”
Those were the first public words Anne Burrell ever wrote about Stuart Claxton.
It was April 21, 2020 — the world was in lockdown, the news was relentlessly grim, and Anne chose to share something that had nothing to do with any of it. She posted a photo on Instagram of herself holding up her left hand, a ring catching the light, and wrote:
“A tiny bit of good news in these crazy times…. We are engaged!!! @stuartclaxton I am a VERY #luckygirl!!!!”
Four simple words — I am a lucky girl — but they said everything. After decades of building a career, after a previous engagement that did not work out, after years of telling herself that marriage simply was not in the cards for someone as career-focused as she was, Anne Burrell had found someone who made her feel lucky just to be with him.
That someone was Stuart Claxton.
“When She Sat Down in Front of Me…”
The story of how Anne and Stuart found each other is one that neither of them could have scripted.
They matched on the dating app Bumble in 2018 — Anne in her late 40s, Stuart a single father raising his son Javier in New York. Stuart later admitted to TODAY that he had absolutely no idea the woman he had matched with was a television star. He went into their first date knowing only what her Bumble profile showed him.
What he saw when she walked through the door changed everything — for both of them.
Anne’s version of that meeting was characteristically direct. She told People: “We both knew immediately. This is really going to be real and this is going to turn into something.”
For a woman who had spent most of her adult life insisting she was too busy, too focused, too career-driven for love — that certainty was remarkable. Something about Stuart Claxton made Anne Burrell, one of America’s most confident personalities, feel instantly and completely at ease.
“I Don’t Know If It’s a Honeymoon Phase…”
What made Anne and Stuart’s relationship unusual was how consistently Anne talked about it — not just in the early flush of romance, but years into their marriage.
Most celebrity couples front-load the public declarations. The engagement announcements, the wedding coverage, the first-year Instagram posts. Then things go quiet.
Anne never went quiet about Stuart.
In 2021, just after their wedding, she called him her “Prince Charming” — a phrase she would return to again and again over the following years. In a 2023 post she wrote to him: “You promised me lots of love and laughter, and have absolutely fulfilled that promise!!!”
And then — just two months before her death — Anne sat down with the Daily Mail for an interview in April 2025. She was asked about her marriage. She had been with Stuart for nearly four years at that point. Her answer was not the answer of someone going through the motions.
“October will be four years. It seems like it’s been four minutes. I don’t know if it’s a honeymoon phase but I feel like it’s settled into married life days which I really enjoy.”
Four years in, and it still felt like four minutes. That is the kind of thing people say when they mean it.
“The Boys Are Cooking Tonight”
One of the most telling things about Anne Burrell’s relationship with Stuart Claxton was the way she talked about his son, Javier.
Javier Claxton was born in 2005. He was a teenager when his father began dating Anne, and by the time the wedding happened in 2021, Javier had become a full and cherished part of Anne’s world. She never referred to him as her stepson in a detached or formal way. She talked about him the way a parent talks about a child.
In a 2021 Thanksgiving post, she listed everything she was grateful for: “A new home, a wedding, a stepson, great family, great friends, good health, great fans and just so much more!!!”
Javier ranked right there alongside the wedding itself.
Anne and Javier bonded over two things they both loved: hockey and cooking. Anne — a professional chef with two bestselling cookbooks and decades of culinary television — happily handed her kitchen over to Stuart and Javier on at least one memorable occasion. She posted about it with obvious delight: “The boys are cooking tonight!!! They are making my ‘Killer Turkey Burgers’!!! YUMMY!!!”
The image of this culinary powerhouse sitting back while her husband and stepson took over her kitchen says more about the warmth of their family dynamic than any formal statement ever could.
“My Four Favorite B’s”
Anne and Stuart built a shared life that had its own rhythms, its own rituals, its own geography.
Bermuda was their place. Anne described it as one of her four favorite B’s — “my boo, beach, backgammon and Bermuda” — a line that perfectly captured the easy, playful intimacy of their relationship. The fact that Stuart was her first B, before the beach and even before the island itself, was not an accident.
They were also regulars at New York Rangers games at Madison Square Garden — Anne was a devoted fan, and Stuart went with her every time. They attended the U.S. Open together every year without fail. They had two cats — Nancy and Marcia — whose comings and goings Anne documented on Instagram with the same enthusiasm she brought to everything else in her life.
When Marcia passed away in October 2024, Anne grieved openly. When she introduced a new kitten named Lorraine to the family shortly after, the post felt like an act of healing — for both of them.
Their life together, as Anne documented it piece by piece on Instagram under the hashtag #TheClaxtons, looked like exactly what it was: genuinely happy.
“It’s My Moment and I Mean to Have It”
No account of Anne and Stuart’s relationship would be complete without the wedding — and no account of the wedding would be complete without Anne’s attitude going into it.
She had waited a long time for this. She was not going to be subtle about it.
“I don’t care about the cheese factor,” she told People before the ceremony. “Every time I mention the horse and carriage, Stuart laughs a little bit, and I’m like, ‘Alright, whatever. It’s my moment and I mean to have it.'”
The horse and carriage was real. The Carolina Herrera gown — the first one she tried on — was real. The star-studded guest list including Rachael Ray as bridesmaid, Alex Guarnaschelli, Jeff Mauro, and Marc Murphy was real. The wedding cake from Buddy Valastro of Cake Boss fame was real.
Afterward, Anne described the day simply: “Everything was magical. I was like, ‘I want the fairy tale! I’m only going to be a bride once!'”
She got her fairy tale. Stuart Claxton gave it to her.
What Anne’s Words Leave Behind
On June 17, 2025, Anne Burrell died at the age of 55. Her death was ruled a suicide. Stuart Claxton, who found her unresponsive in their Brooklyn apartment that morning, was left to grieve in the full glare of public attention — a private man suddenly at the center of one of the most discussed celebrity deaths of the year.
But what Anne left behind — in her Instagram posts, her interviews, her casual off-the-cuff comments to journalists — was a portrait of a man she genuinely loved. A man she called lucky to have found. A man she was still talking about with fresh enthusiasm four years into their marriage.
Stuart Claxton did not seek the spotlight. He never did. But through Anne’s words, the world got to see exactly who he was to her — and that picture, however incomplete, is a generous and moving one.
For the complete biography of Stuart Claxton — his career, his son Javier, his net worth, and his life since Anne’s passing — visit stuart claxton.
FAQs
Q: What did Anne Burrell call Stuart Claxton? Anne Burrell consistently referred to Stuart Claxton as her “Prince Charming” — a nickname she used from the time of their engagement through the final months of her life.
Q: How did Anne Burrell describe her marriage to Stuart Claxton? In an April 2025 interview with the Daily Mail — just two months before her death — Anne said their four-year marriage still felt like “four minutes” and that she genuinely enjoyed “married life days” with Stuart.
Q: Did Anne Burrell have a good relationship with Stuart Claxton’s son Javier? Yes. Anne embraced Javier Claxton as her stepson wholeheartedly. They bonded over hockey and cooking, and Anne frequently mentioned him alongside Stuart in social media posts about their family life.
Q: Where did Anne Burrell and Stuart Claxton love to travel? Bermuda was the couple’s favorite destination. Anne described it as one of her “four favorite B’s” — alongside “my boo, beach, and backgammon.”
Q: What hashtag did Anne Burrell use for posts about her life with Stuart Claxton? Anne and Stuart used the hashtag #TheClaxtons on Instagram to document their shared life together — travel, celebrations, Rangers games, and everyday family moments.
Q: Who were the celebrity guests at Anne Burrell and Stuart Claxton’s wedding? The wedding on October 16, 2021, at Windridge Estate in Cazenovia, New York, was attended by Rachael Ray (who served as a bridesmaid), Alex Guarnaschelli, Jeff Mauro, Marc Murphy, and Jersey Shore star Jenni Farley, among others.
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