Heidi Van Pelt married a 17-year-old TV star. She started two businesses. Both fell apart. So what’s the real story?
Quick Facts: Bio Table
| Detail | Info |
| Full Name | Heidi Van Pelt (later Heidi VanPelt-Belle) |
| Born | July 11, 1968 |
| Birthplace | Missouri, USA |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Stephens College (fashion design); Univ. of Missouri (philosophy/German); Univ. of Washington (Russian) — no degree completed |
| Certified As | Nutritional Counselor (American Academy of Nutrition) |
| Known For | Marriage to child actor Taran Noah Smith; Playfood vegan cheese company; Füd restaurant in Kansas City |
| First Marriage | Taran Noah Smith (April 27, 2001 – February 2, 2007) |
| Second Marriage | Jerimiah Rozzo-Belle (date unclear) |
| Child | One — Vox Belle (with Jerimiah Rozzo-Belle) |
| Net Worth | Estimated $150,000–$300,000 (varies widely by source) |
| Current Status | Private; believed to be in Kansas City, Missouri |
She Wasn’t Famous — Until She Was
Heidi Van Pelt grew up in Kansas City, Missouri. Her parents separated when she was young. Her mother raised her alone.
She went to multiple colleges. Fashion design first. Then philosophy. Then Russian language studies. She never finished any degree. That is a fact no one disputes.
She worked small jobs in Hollywood in the early 1990s — prop master, production assistant. She ran a small entertainment company called Emergent Films. None of this made her known.
Then she discovered veganism. She got certified as a nutritional counselor. She co-hosted a radio show called Raw Health in Los Angeles. She started catering at Hollywood parties and connecting with animal rights groups.
This is how she ended up in the same room as a teenage TV star. And everything changed.
The Marriage That Got Her on the News
Here is the timeline. And here is where things get murky.
Multiple sources say Heidi first met Taran Noah Smith when he was 14 years old — around 1998. She was approximately 30. They were both connected to the same vegan and animal rights circles in Los Angeles.
But one source says they didn’t reconnect until 1999, at a Hollywood event, through Taran’s Home Improvement co-star Zachery Ty Bryan. Another says Taran met her at the University of Southern California, where he briefly enrolled.
The exact “first meeting” story does not match up across sources. That gap is worth noting.
What is clear: they married on April 27, 2001. Taran had just turned 18. Heidi was 33. The age gap was exactly 16 years.
Taran’s parents were against it. They went to court to block it. They failed.
Many people accused Heidi of being a gold-digger. The timing looked bad: Taran had just gained access to a $1.5 million trust fund from his years on Home Improvement. His mother, Candy Bennici, later said the money was always in a protected trust — that neither she nor anyone else could touch it. Taran, meanwhile, had accused his own parents of mismanaging his money.
So there were money disputes on all sides. None of this has a clean narrative.
The Question Nobody Asks Out Loud
Taran was 14 when they first met. Heidi was approximately 30. They were in the same social group. They apparently stayed in touch for years before marrying.
No source raises this as a concern. Everyone frames it as “they met through shared vegan interests.” That framing deserves scrutiny.
A 30-year-old maintaining a close ongoing friendship with a 14-year-old — in any other context — would raise questions. That gap in media coverage is telling.
Playfood: The Business That Blew Up Twice
In 2005, Heidi and Taran launched Playfood Inc. in Sherman Oaks, California. It was a vegan, cashew-based non-dairy cheese business run out of their home.
One source says it was declared illegal by authorities and shut down. The reason cited: operating a food manufacturing business from a residential property without proper permits.
After that, they shifted to a catering company and a vegan restaurant on Ventura Boulevard in the San Fernando Valley.
Then came the divorce — and the lawsuit.
In February 2007, Taran filed for divorce and a temporary injunction against Heidi. He accused her of moving money from their shared company, Playfood Inc., into a separate business she controlled alone, called Playfood Manufacturing LLC.
He won. The court gave him full ownership of Playfood Inc. Heidi walked away with nothing from that business.
She publicly stated the divorce was due to age differences. The court documents say it was about financial fraud. Those are two very different things.
A Pattern Worth Examining
Taran accused Heidi of taking business funds. The court sided with him.
Jump ahead ten years. Heidi’s second business partner — her second husband, Jerimiah Rozzo-Belle — accused her of closing their shared restaurant, Füd, without his knowledge or approval. He owned 49% of the business. She owned 51%.
In August 2017, Heidi shut Füd down. Jerimiah said she did not inform him. He described the loss of their years-long business partnership as devastating.
Two business partnerships. Two accusers. Two claims of financial wrongdoing. That pattern is not nothing.
Heidi’s side of the 2017 story: she believed her employees were plotting against her. She said the closure was temporary. The restaurant never reopened.
Former Füd employees told The Kansas City Pitch something more alarming. They said Heidi had spent hours in the kitchen talking about Pizzagate, flat-Earth theories, reptilian world rulers, and conspiracy podcasts. Multiple staff members confirmed this independently.
Ten employees left or were dismissed. None agreed to return.
The Füd Restaurant Years (2007–2017)
After the divorce, Heidi moved back to Kansas City. She remarried a man named Jerimiah Rozzo-Belle. They had a child named Vox Belle.
Together they opened Füd — a vegan comfort food restaurant. It started as a pop-up inside Bad Seed, a farmers market in the Crossroads district. In 2010, it became a stand-alone restaurant on the Westside.
The food got good reviews. The restaurant lasted seven years. Kansas City had very few vegan options at the time. By local accounts, Füd genuinely filled a gap.
But behind the counter, things were falling apart.
Staff walked out. Employees said they heard racist, anti-immigrant, and anti-trans comments. One worker described Heidi defending an employee with “alt-right” views while telling a second employee — who was uncomfortable — to deal with it. That worker quit on the spot.
Heidi did not deny closing the restaurant. She sent a written response to press calls describing “online bullying” and saying people had lost empathy. She said hate was spreading and could lead to civil war.
That response did not address the staff’s specific complaints.
What the Sources Disagree About
This is worth its own section. Different sites report different basic facts:
- When did they marry? Most say April 27, 2001, when Taran was 18. Some say he was 17. Wikipedia and IMDB say 17. This matters legally. The most credible sources place the marriage on his 18th birthday.
- When did they meet? Some say Taran was 14. Others say 17. Others say they met through Zachery Ty Bryan. No primary source confirms this with certainty.
- Who got custody of what in the divorce? Some sources say Heidi was “awarded both” custody of their business and finances. Others say Taran won full control of Playfood in court. The court record supports Taran winning control of Playfood.
- Does Heidi have children? Some sites say no. Others confirm Vox Belle. The child from her second relationship appears to be real, confirmed by multiple local Kansas City sources including The Pitch.
When sources contradict this much on basic facts, some are simply wrong. The most locally reported facts — from The Kansas City Pitch — carry the most weight.
Her Actual Career: What She Built
Underneath all the controversy, Heidi did build real things.
She became a certified nutritional counselor at a time when that was not a mainstream career. She co-hosted a radio show about raw food and plant-based eating in the late 1990s, before veganism entered popular culture.
She created cashew-based cheese recipes. Playfood sold them commercially. That was early for the American market. Vegan cheese is now a multi-billion dollar industry. She was there at the beginning.
Füd served jackfruit tacos, cashew cheese boards, and raw pizza to Midwesterners who had never tasted that kind of food. For seven years, it worked.
She was not a celebrity. She was not a food TV personality. She was a woman running actual businesses in the actual world. That part of her story gets buried under the gossip.
Where Is Heidi Van Pelt Now?
She lives in Missouri. She avoids media and has no active public profile. She occasionally posts on Facebook about child abuse awareness and mental health advocacy.
She has not opened another restaurant. She has not given interviews. She does not appear on social media in any meaningful public way.
Her second marriage — to Jerimiah Rozzo-Belle — appears to have ended or become strained after the Füd closure. Sources are unclear on the current status of that relationship.
Her net worth is estimated between $150,000 and $300,000 by most sources. A couple of sites claim higher figures, but those look inflated and unsupported.
What Is Actually Known vs. What Is Unclear
Known:
- Born July 11, 1968, in Missouri
- Married Taran Noah Smith on April 27, 2001
- Divorced February 2007; Taran won full control of Playfood
- Opened Füd in Kansas City around 2007–2010; closed 2017
- Had one child, Vox Belle, with second partner Jerimiah Rozzo-Belle
- Multiple staff accused her of conspiracy theories and discriminatory statements in 2017
Unclear:
- Exact age of Taran when they first connected romantically
- Whether the Playfood fraud accusations were proven in full or partially settled
- Current relationship status with Jerimiah Rozzo-Belle
- Whether the Füd closure involved legal proceedings beyond internal disputes
- Her current professional activities, if any
Final Thoughts
Heidi Van Pelt is not a simple story.
She was not just a gold-digger. She built real businesses in veganism before most people knew what cashew cheese was. She was a working chef, not a fame-chaser.
But she also had two major business partnerships collapse under accusations of financial misconduct. She closed a restaurant without telling her partner. Her employees described a workplace full of conspiracy theories and hostility.
None of that fits the “resilient vegan entrepreneur” framing most online biopics push. And none of it fits the “manipulative older woman” story the tabloids pushed in 2001.
The real version is messier. She is a person who built things and burned them. Who had genuine skills and genuine red flags. Who married a teenager with a million-dollar trust fund when she was in her thirties — and yes, that question never fully goes away.
Whatever her intentions were, that is the part of this story that never gets an honest answer.
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FAQ: 12 Real Questions About Heidi Van Pelt
1. How old was Taran Noah Smith when he married Heidi Van Pelt?
He turned 18 on April 8, 2001. Most credible sources say the wedding took place on April 27, 2001 — when he was 18. Some sources say 17, which appears to be inaccurate.
2. How old was Taran when Heidi first met him?
Multiple sources say he was 14. She was around 30. They were both part of animal rights and vegan circles in Los Angeles. Some sources say they did not get romantically involved until he was 17 or 18. The exact timeline is disputed.
3. Did Taran’s parents approve of the marriage?
No. His parents tried to block the marriage through legal action. They failed. Taran had also sued his parents over his trust fund, claiming they mismanaged it. His mother denied touching the money.
4. What was Playfood?
A vegan food company Heidi and Taran started together around 2003–2005 in Sherman Oaks, California. It made cashew-based non-dairy cheese. An early home operation was reportedly shut down for operating illegally from a residential address. They later expanded to a restaurant and catering company.
5. Why did Taran sue Heidi after the divorce?
He accused her of moving money from their shared company, Playfood Inc., into a separate company she controlled called Playfood Manufacturing LLC. Courts gave Taran full ownership of Playfood Inc.
6. Did Heidi win anything from the divorce?
Taran won control of the business. Some sources claim Heidi walked away wealthier; others say Taran got the business and Heidi left with nothing from it. The court record sides with Taran on the business.
7. What was the Füd restaurant?
A vegan comfort food restaurant in Kansas City that Heidi opened around 2007 as a pop-up, becoming a stand-alone restaurant by 2010. It ran for seven years and closed in 2017 under disputed circumstances.
8. Why did Füd close?
Heidi shut it down herself in August 2017. Her partner, Jerimiah Rozzo-Belle, said she did not consult him. Multiple employees had also complained about conspiracy theories and discriminatory comments in the workplace. At least ten staff either quit or refused to return.
9. Does Heidi have children?
She had no children with Taran Noah Smith. She later had one child, named Vox Belle, with her second partner Jerimiah Rozzo-Belle.
10. Where is Heidi Van Pelt now?
She lives in Missouri and keeps a very private life. She occasionally posts on Facebook about child abuse awareness and mental health. She has not operated a public business since Füd closed in 2017.
11. Is she still married to Jerimiah Rozzo-Belle?
Unclear. The two had a child together and ran Füd as business partners. After the 2017 Füd closure, sources suggest the partnership — both personal and professional — became strained. No confirmed current status.
12. What is Heidi Van Pelt’s net worth?
Most sources estimate $150,000 to $300,000. A few inflate this to $1–2 million without clear evidence. She has no documented major income source after 2017.