Since Hulu’s The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives first aired in 2024, solid member Whitney Leavitt has gone from energy to energy: rising her already formidable social media presence, making it to the semifinals of Dancing With the Stars, signing on to the vacation rom-com All for Love, and, now, getting ready for her Broadway debut as fame-chaser Roxie Hart in Chicago subsequent month. Now that Midas contact is extending to somebody in her orbit: her personal chef, Keegan McManus.

Billed as “the Completely satisfied Chef” on his social media accounts, McManus—who tells SELF he earned the nickname at culinary faculty on account of his fixed “massive smile”—rose to new heights of digital fame earlier this month when he introduced he was working with Leavitt. Recounting his ascent in a mid-January Zoom name with SELF, he comes throughout as grateful however grounded. “I am actually so glad that it is getting as massive as it’s,” he says of his on-line presence (which now numbers near 200,000 followers on Instagram alone). “I really like maintaining folks firm, even when simply by means of social media.” Then he breaks into an enormous grin—a gesture that immediately suggests the supply of his moniker.

With Leavitt busy readying herself for opening evening on February 2, she will’t probably have a lot time left over to sleep, not to mention feed herself (or her household, which incorporates her husband, Conner, and their three children). That’s the place McManus is available in: Slicing, dicing, chopping, mincing, and julienning with the velocity and precision of a skilled professional, he churns out wholesome, nutritious meals at a breakneck tempo: vodka pasta, Asian braised quick ribs, you identify it.

Cooking for a celeb would possibly sound prefer it’s all glitz and glamour, certain—nevertheless it definitely isn’t straightforward. Beneath, McManus walks by means of a mean 24 hours in his life as a non-public chef to the celebs.

SELF: To start out, I wished to ask you just a little bit about your self and your trajectory to date. How did you get right here?

Keegan McManus: Effectively, I have been cooking since I may stroll and discuss. It is all the time been my favourite ardour—cooking with my household, my grandmother, my siblings. With my siblings, I all the time wished to look at Barefoot Contessa at TV time. Once I hear Ina Garten’s voice, I am like, I want that might be on my Hatch. She is simply excellent and so soothing and somebody that makes everybody really feel assured within the kitchen, which is one thing that I’m so impressed by.

Since Hulu’s The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives first aired in 2024, solid member Whitney Leavitt has gone from energy to energy: rising her already formidable social media presence, making it to the semifinals of Dancing With the Stars, signing on to the vacation rom-com All for Love, and, now, getting ready for her Broadway debut as fame-chaser Roxie Hart in Chicago subsequent month. Now that Midas contact is extending to somebody in her orbit: her personal chef, Keegan McManus.

Billed as “the Completely satisfied Chef” on his social media accounts, McManus—who tells SELF he earned the nickname at culinary faculty on account of his fixed “massive smile”—rose to new heights of digital fame earlier this month when he introduced he was working with Leavitt. Recounting his ascent in a mid-January Zoom name with SELF, he comes throughout as grateful however grounded. “I am actually so glad that it is getting as massive as it’s,” he says of his on-line presence (which now numbers near 200,000 followers on Instagram alone). “I really like maintaining folks firm, even when simply by means of social media.” Then he breaks into an enormous grin—a gesture that immediately suggests the supply of his moniker.

With Leavitt busy readying herself for opening evening on February 2, she will’t probably have a lot time left over to sleep, not to mention feed herself (or her household, which incorporates her husband, Conner, and their three children). That’s the place McManus is available in: Slicing, dicing, chopping, mincing, and julienning with the velocity and precision of a skilled professional, he churns out wholesome, nutritious meals at a breakneck tempo: vodka pasta, Asian braised quick ribs, you identify it.

Cooking for a celeb would possibly sound prefer it’s all glitz and glamour, certain—nevertheless it definitely isn’t straightforward. Beneath, McManus walks by means of a mean 24 hours in his life as a non-public chef to the celebs.

SELF: To start out, I wished to ask you just a little bit about your self and your trajectory to date. How did you get right here?

Keegan McManus: Effectively, I have been cooking since I may stroll and discuss. It is all the time been my favourite ardour—cooking with my household, my grandmother, my siblings. With my siblings, I all the time wished to look at Barefoot Contessa at TV time. Once I hear Ina Garten’s voice, I am like, I want that might be on my Hatch. She is simply excellent and so soothing and somebody that makes everybody really feel assured within the kitchen, which is one thing that I’m so impressed by.