Andrew Zimmern’s wife was Rishia Haas. The Bizarre Foods star married her in December 2002, and they spent 16 years together before their amicable divorce in 2018. They have one son, Noah. Unlike her famous husband, Rishia has always lived privately — working in helping professions in Minnesota, far from television cameras. This guide tells her story: how they met, what their marriage was like, why it ended, and where she is today. This page gathers everything publicly known about Andrew Zimmern wife Rishia Haas in one place.
Searches for “Andrew Zimmern wife” rise every time a new season of his shows airs, because Zimmern himself rarely discusses his family on screen. However, he has spoken with unusual honesty about his marriage in interviews — including about his own role in its ending. What follows is everything that is publicly known, drawn from those interviews and reliable reporting.
Table of Contents
Quick Facts
| Wife (former) | Rishia Haas — married Andrew Zimmern in 2002; divorced in 2018 |
| How they met | At a Minnesota cooking school in 1999, where Zimmern was teaching |
| Son | Noah Zimmern, born February 24, 2005 |
| Her work | Administrative and admissions roles in recovery organisations; beekeeping; licensed peer recovery specialist |
| Where she lives now | Minnesota, living a private life |
| Is Zimmern remarried? | No public reports of a remarriage; he is not publicly married today |
Who Is Rishia Haas?
Andrew Zimmern wife Rishia Haas is a Minnesota woman whose life has always been centred on helping other people. Born on July 29, 1973, in Champlin, Minnesota, she studied business administration and built a career in administrative and admissions work. Her employers have included organisations in the addiction-recovery field, such as the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation and The Retreat — a fitting path, as we will see, given her husband’s own history.
She later added two unusual strings to her bow: beekeeping, through the University of Minnesota’s Bee Lab, and certification as a licensed peer recovery support specialist. In other words, Andrew Zimmern’s wife did not simply avoid fame — she built a meaningful, service-driven life entirely outside it. People who have worked with her describe a skilled, caring professional who never traded on her married name. Andrew Zimmern wife Rishia Haas never wanted it any other way.
Part of the curiosity about Rishia comes from how little of her is public. She never gave the kind of interviews celebrity spouses often give, she never built a public brand, and photographs of her are rare. In an era when almost everyone connected to a star has a public profile, that absence stands out — and it sends readers searching for the basics: who she is, where she came from, and what her life looks like now. This guide gathers those answers in one place, sticking strictly to what has been reported by reliable sources or said by Zimmern himself. It is, in miniature, the story of Andrew Zimmern wife Rishia Haas: service first, spotlight never.
How Andrew Zimmern Met His Wife
Andrew Zimmern wife Rishia Haas met the chef in 1999, before television fame entered the picture. Zimmern, having left the restaurant business, was teaching classes at a cooking school in Minnesota. Rishia worked at the school — accounts describe her role around its cookware shop and administration. A shared love of food, and of work that helps the community, drew them together.
They dated for roughly three years and married on December 26, 2002, in a small ceremony with close friends and family. At that point, neither could have known what was coming. Zimmern was a respected local chef and food writer with a difficult past behind him; within a few years he would become one of the most recognisable food presenters on the planet. Andrew Zimmern wife Rishia Haas had married him long before any of that.
The timing matters to their story. Rishia married a teacher, not a celebrity. The fame arrived afterwards — and, as Zimmern himself admits, it changed the terms of the marriage more than either of them expected. Nobody understood that change better than Andrew Zimmern wife Rishia Haas herself.
Marriage and the Bizarre Foods Years
Andrew Zimmern launched Bizarre Foods in 2006, and the show became a global hit. He travelled constantly — dozens of countries, hundreds of episodes — collecting James Beard Awards and a huge following along the way. For viewers, it was a golden era of food television. For his family in Minnesota, it meant a husband and father who was very often somewhere else.
The couple’s son, Noah, was born on February 24, 2005, just before the television years took off. Family life, by Zimmern’s own account, revolved around making the most of his time at home: ordinary routines, and regular family trips to Disney World. Rishia, meanwhile, was the constant presence — running the household, raising Noah, and holding the family’s centre while filming schedules pulled her husband across time zones. Andrew Zimmern wife Rishia Haas made that rhythm work for years.
There was another layer to the marriage that Zimmern has discussed openly. He is a recovering addict, sober since the early 1990s, and he has credited the stable home life of those years as part of what kept him grounded. Rishia’s own work in the recovery world made her unusually understanding of that history. For a long time, by all accounts, the partnership genuinely worked. Andrew Zimmern wife Rishia Haas was a large part of why it worked.
Andrew Zimmern’s Career in Brief
To understand the pressure on the marriage, it helps to understand the scale of the career. Zimmern spent years as a chef, food writer and cooking teacher in Minnesota before television found him. Bizarre Foods then ran for more than a decade, sending him to dozens of countries to eat whatever local hosts put in front of him — and audiences loved him for it. The show made him a multiple James Beard Award winner and one of the most trusted voices in American food media. Back home, Andrew Zimmern wife Rishia Haas saw the cost of that rise up close.
Success bred more success. Spin-offs and follow-ups such as The Zimmern List kept him travelling, and he built a production company to tell food stories his own way. Each project was, on its own terms, a triumph. Together, they formed a schedule that left very little of Andrew Zimmern for the people waiting at home in Minnesota — a fact he has acknowledged with rare honesty ever since. The person who absorbed that cost most was Andrew Zimmern wife Rishia Haas.
That honesty is precisely why his marriage story resonates. Many famous people blame everyone but themselves when a relationship fails. Zimmern did the opposite, in print, more than once. For readers searching for Andrew Zimmern’s wife, his candour is what turns a simple biography question into a genuinely human story. And the person his honesty most concerned was Andrew Zimmern wife Rishia Haas.
Their Son: Noah Zimmern
Noah Zimmern, born in 2005, is the couple’s only child, and he turned 21 in 2026. Both parents have protected his privacy carefully — he was kept out of the spotlight as a child, and as an adult he lives a low-key life of his own. For Andrew Zimmern wife Rishia Haas, keeping Noah out of that spotlight was a priority from the start.
What is public is the warmth between father and son. Zimmern has called being Noah’s dad his most important job, and since the divorce he has spoken about wanting “to be the best dad and the best ex I can be”. Co-parenting, in their case, appears to have worked the way it is supposed to: respectful, united around Noah, and free of public drama. Andrew Zimmern wife Rishia Haas shares that same quiet commitment to their son.
Why the Marriage Ended
The marriage ended in 2018, after almost 16 years, and Zimmern has never hidden the reason. In an email interview with The New York Times that year, he wrote plainly: “I wasn’t there for my wife, and I wasn’t there for my son.” He added that his wife gave him “a thousand chances to make it right”, but that he had underestimated how completely the merry-go-round of being a public person would consume his time.
The travel was relentless, and so was the attention. Zimmern described fans trampling over his wife and child to reach him, and being followed with camera phones even in hospitals. “They are victims of my popularity,” he said of his family. Eventually, the distance created by the work became distance in the marriage itself. Andrew Zimmern wife Rishia Haas, by his own account, had given him every chance to change that.
To their credit, the divorce was handled the way the marriage deserved: quietly and amicably. There were no public accusations and no courtroom spectacle. Friends of the couple describe two people who still respected each other, ending a chapter that fame had slowly rewritten. Zimmern marked Mother’s Day in 2020 by calling Rishia “the bravest mom” he knew — a small public gesture that said a great deal. The respect between Andrew Zimmern wife Rishia Haas and the chef clearly survived the split.
Rishia Haas’s Life After the Divorce
Since 2018, Rishia has continued exactly as before — which is to say, privately and purposefully. She remains in Minnesota, reported to be living in the Edina area, and she has stayed away from social media and interviews. Her work in recovery support and her beekeeping reflect the same priorities she held throughout the marriage: nature, calm, and helping people rebuild their lives. Privacy came first for Andrew Zimmern wife Rishia Haas, exactly as it always had.
Her beekeeping is more than a relaxing hobby. Rishia has been involved with the University of Minnesota Bee Lab, the well-known research group that helps beekeepers keep their colonies healthy, and tending hives suits the pattern of her working life. She has also worked as a licensed peer recovery specialist, supporting people in the early stages of recovery, after earlier administrative and admissions roles with treatment organisations that include the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation and The Retreat. One thread runs through all of it: patient, unglamorous, one-day-at-a-time work — with people working to rebuild their lives, and with bees.
Profiles of Andrew Zimmern’s wife after the divorce consistently note the same thing: she did not cash in. No tell-all interviews, no reality television, no public bitterness — just a steady life with her son and her work. In celebrity-divorce terms, it is a quietly inspiring example of how to leave a famous marriage with grace. That grace is now the defining public image of Andrew Zimmern wife Rishia Haas.
Is Andrew Zimmern Married Now?
No. As of 2026, there are no public reports that Andrew Zimmern has remarried, and he is not publicly known to have a new wife. His public life remains focused on his television work, his production company, food advocacy and, by his own account, on being present for Noah in a way he was not always able to be during the busiest filming years. So the only person who has held the title of Andrew Zimmern wife in public life is Rishia Haas.
So whenever the question “who is Andrew Zimmern’s wife?” trends again, the accurate answer is a historical one: Rishia Haas, the Minnesota cooking-school colleague he married in 2002, the mother of his son, and — by his own telling — a woman who deserved more of his time than fame allowed him to give. For everyone still searching Andrew Zimmern wife online, the answer is unchanged: Rishia Haas, living privately in Minnesota.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Andrew Zimmern’s wife?
Andrew Zimmern’s wife was Rishia Haas. They married on December 26, 2002, after meeting at a Minnesota cooking school in 1999, and they divorced amicably in 2018 after almost 16 years together. Readers asking about Andrew Zimmern wife today are asking about her.
Why did Andrew Zimmern and his wife divorce?
Zimmern has said the reason was his career: constant travel for Bizarre Foods meant he “wasn’t there” for his wife and son. He has taken public responsibility, saying Rishia gave him many chances to fix things. In short, Andrew Zimmern wife Rishia Haas was the one who paid for that schedule.
Do Andrew Zimmern and Rishia Haas have children?
Yes — one son, Noah Zimmern, born on February 24, 2005. He turned 21 in 2026 and lives a private life. His parents co-parent respectfully and remain on friendly terms. Together, Andrew Zimmern wife Rishia Haas and the chef have kept Noah’s upbringing private and stable.
What does Rishia Haas do for a living?
Rishia Haas has worked in administrative and admissions roles for recovery organisations, including the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation. She is also a beekeeper with the University of Minnesota Bee Lab and a licensed peer recovery support specialist.
Where is Rishia Haas now?
Andrew Zimmern wife Rishia Haas lives in Minnesota, reported to be in the Edina area. She continues her work connected to recovery support, keeps bees, and stays off social media. By every public account, she and Zimmern remain on friendly terms as co-parents to Noah.
Has Andrew Zimmern remarried?
There are no public reports of a remarriage. As of 2026, Andrew Zimmern is not publicly married.
Conclusion
Andrew Zimmern’s wife, Rishia Haas, never wanted the spotlight — and that may be the most interesting thing about her. She met a cooking teacher in 1999, stood beside him through one of food television’s biggest success stories, raised their son, and then walked away from the fame with her dignity and privacy intact. Zimmern’s honesty about his own part in the ending only underlines it. Behind the globe-trotting host stood a grounded Minnesota woman — and her untold story deserves its place next to his. If you enjoy stories of celebrity partners who chose privacy over fame, you may also like our profile of John McEnroe’s wife.
It is also why searches for Andrew Zimmern’s wife keep growing. Readers who know Zimmern from years of Bizarre Foods are curious about the person who shared the quiet half of that life — the Minnesota home, the school runs and the long months between filming trips. Rishia’s story answers that curiosity in an unusual way: not with revelations, but with a steady example of privacy, purposeful work and grace under the glare of someone else’s fame. For readers still looking up Andrew Zimmern wife details, the story ends the same way it began: with a private Minnesota woman who never sought the spotlight.
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