Giada De Laurentiis moved her daughter Jade into her New York University dorm on August 28, and the milestone quickly became an emotional public moment. De Laurentiis shared the move on Instagram, writing that it takes a village and that her heart was in it.
The move matters now because Jade is 18 and has just settled into her room at New York University, turning a long-planned family moment into a real goodbye. De Laurentiis had already been bracing for it in July, when she said she had spent most of her summer with Jade because she was trying to hold on.
That summer stretch gives the move its weight. Earlier in August, De Laurentiis, Todd Thompson, family and friends gathered for lunch by the beach to celebrate the sendoff, and she posted that they were celebrating their girl before they let her go, while also saying they were proud of Jademarie_dlt and that it was time to go to college. The portrait that included Shane Farley, Jade, Thompson and De Laurentiis underscored how many people were folded into the moment.
The friction is in what De Laurentiis said about the change. In July, she described it as both an exciting new chapter and the end of a 20-year span of being a mother, adding that she did not think people talk enough about how it affects you, especially as a mother. She also said it can feel like your purpose is done, which is a blunt way to describe a routine family milestone that still lands like a shutdown.
De Laurentiis is based in California, while Jade is now across the country at New York University, so the move is not just a room change but a separation measured in distance as well as emotion. What happens next is straightforward: Jade starts college, and De Laurentiis moves from preparing for the goodbye to living with it.
