As Allergic Living previously reported, the actress, who has celiac disease, parted company with the CBS network in a dispute over her work schedule for the TV hit show Blue Bloods. The dispute arose after Esposito asked for a reduced workload due to health concerns related to her celiac disease.

But now Esposito has recast herself in the role of gluten-free baker, and appears excited to be offering New Yorkers her gluten-free baked goods – with a side of celiac disease advocacy. As a bonus, everything in the bakery is also made without soy, peanuts, dairy and refined sugar. Some products are also promoted as nut-free, yeast-free, and/or vegan-friendly.

Esposito is no newcomer to creating good gluten-free food. She has been blogging and sharing celiac recipes on her website jennifersway.org for some time, which also hosts the bakery’s site. Esposito was only diagnosed with celiac disease a few years ago after suffering with a long list of mysterious symptoms:

“It was years of trying to figure out what was wrong, to the point where I lost a tooth, my hair was falling out, I couldn’t stand up, I had such severe panic disorder”, she told NBC’s Today.

Esposito can still be found on TV, too. She and her bakery are part of a reality show called Playing with Fire, which follows chefs trying to succeed in New York City. The show premiered on The E! Network in March.

In 2012, Allergic Living reported that Esposito’s job dispute involved her request for a reduced work schedule because of her need for vitamin IVs and general exhaustion related to her recovery from the health toll of the years of undiagnosed celiac disease. CBS first put her on unpaid leave, saying that her part-time schedule made her “unable to perform the demands of her role”.

Since leaving the show, Esposito has said that she considers the bakery and her advocacy efforts to be a new, rewarding chapter in her life.

CBS has put the actress and her character detective Jackie Curatola on a leave of absence. In a statement to the TV website Deadline.com, CBS Studios said:  “Jennifer has informed us that she is only available to work on a very limited part-time schedule. As a result, she’s unable to perform the demands of her role and we regretfully had to put her character on a leave of absence.”

Esposito took to Twitter on October 20, to accuse the network of “shameful behavior”, saying that: “CBS put me on unpaid leave and has blocked me from working anywhere else after my doc said ‘you needed a reduced schedule due to celiac’. CBS didn’t listen to my doc and I collapsed on set. Which everyone saw!”

She further says that once she was cleared to return to work, “CBS implied that I was not truly ill and this was a scheme to get a raise!”

Esposito has been a vocal advocate of celiac disease awareness, speaking out about the many years it took her to get diagnosed and the struggles she had faced before going gluten-free with extreme fatigue, gastrointestinal distress and hair loss.

In reply to some critical comments on one article about the dispute with CBS, Esposito elaborated on her current celiac-related health issues: “I can work on a limited schedule due to the vitamin IVs I need three times a week because I don’t absorb [nutrients and], due to the exhaustion from that as well.”

Esposito blogs at the site Jennifersway.org, where she shares advice and recipes.

Comment on CBS’s actions here.
View Esposito’s documentary on life with celiac here.