Dina Matos McGreevey

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dina Matos McGreevey, born on November 5, 1966[1] in Cantanhede, Portugal, is the former First Lady of New Jersey. She served as first lady during the administration of her husband, former Gov. James McGreevey. In advance of an expected lawsuit, Gov. McGreevey, with Matos at his side, revealed at an August 2004 press conference that he'd had an adulterous relationship with another man and was resigning from office. Matos and McGreevey separated in October 2004.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Matos is the daughter of Maria and Ricardo. The Matos moved to the United States from Portugal when she was still young and settled in the heavily Portuguese Ironbound section of Newark. Maria worked in a gift shop and Ricardo worked for the railroad.[2]

After graduating from East Side High School, she enrolled at the Newark campus of Rutgers University in 1984. She majored in political science, but also worked as a secretary while in college. Although she was enrolled until 1991, she never graduated.[2]

Dina is a former manager of Public and Professional Relations at Saint James Hospital, Executive Director of the Columbus Hospital Foundation in Newark, New Jersey.

[edit] Personal

Matos met James E. McGreevey in 1996, while he was mayor of Woodbridge Township, New Jersey, and they began dating the following year, shortly after he lost his first bid for governor to Christie Whitman.[2] McGreevey had separated from his first wife, Kari Schutz, in 1995 and was divorced in 1997.[2]

They married October 7, 2000. Together they have a daughter, Jacqueline Matos McGreevey, born prematurely on December 7, 2001 after Matos had been hospitalized for six weeks.

In October 2004, Dina Matos McGreevey purchased a three-bedroom, red brick ranch home in Springfield Township, Union County, New Jersey [1]

[edit] Divorce trial

Matos and McGreevey are currently in the midst of a divorce and custody battle that has gained much media attention in New Jersey because McGreevey wants full custody with support from Matos [3] Jim and Dina Matos McGreevey's divorce trial in the Union County Courthouse in Elizabeth, started on May 6, 2008, to end their 3 1/2-year separation. Jim asked the court for equal custody of their 6-year-old daughter, alimony and child support. Matos McGreevey demanded $ 600,000 compensation. McGreevey, 50, now lives with a male partner and is studying to be an Episcopal priest. Stephen Haller, his lawyer will present witness Teddy Pedersen, 29: "Plaintiff will testify at trial that he needed to have a disrobed male present in the room with them in order for him to become physically aroused; This tends to prove that plaintiff was at least bisexual, a fact which should have been obvious to defendant prior to the marriage." Matos McGreevey's lawyer John Post, would block Pedersen's testimony.[4][5]

In March 2008, media reports alleged that Matos would often engage in group sex with her husband and his aide Teddy Pedersen.[6] Pedersen claims in a sworn deposition that the three engaged in what they referred to as "Friday Night Specials" after dining at a local T.G.I Friday's. The deposition details that the Former Governor's participation was to only watch Dina Matos McGreevey engage in sexual relations with Pedersen, which she has denied. Pedersen also states in his testimony that he had no knowledge that the former Governor was homosexual at the time of the trysts.

[edit] Career

Matos speaks fluent Portuguese and has worked to obtain green cards and naturalization for Portuguese immigrants.[2] In June 2004, she was grand marshal of the Portugal Day parade in Newark.[2]

Matos announced in January 2007 that she was writing a book, "Silent Partner", to end media speculation on her life. In the book, Matos wrote that she would never have married McGreevey if she had known he was gay, nor would she have "allowed a gay man to father my child," referring to their six-year-old daughter.[7] On May 1, 2007, the day of the book's release, Matos broke her silence and spoke on The Oprah Winfrey Show promoting her book[8] [9]. On May 2, 2007, she appeared on ABC's Good Morning America with Diane Sawyer and stated:

"I thought I had it all, I thought it was the American dream, and it turned out to be a nightmare. ... You know he had the entire day [that he resigned] scripted. His entire life had been choreographed, and even as his world was falling apart, he was still trying to script everything and making sure that day went as he wanted it" [10].

Gayle King interviewed Matos in the June 2007 edition of O, The Oprah Magazine.[11]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Capuzzo, Jill P. "The Tangled Journey Of a Governor's Wife", The New York Times, November 7, 2004. Accessed December 30, 2007. "The McGreeveys will be moving out of Drumthwacket, the governor's Greek Revival mansion in Princeton, and go their separate ways -- she to a red-brick ranch she bought for an undisclosed price in Springfield, Union County."
  2. ^ a b c d e f O'Donnell, Michelle; Collins, Glenn. "THE GOVERNOR RESIGNS: THE WIVES; With Discretion, Two Women Stand By the Governor in His Time of Tribulation", The New York Times, 2004-08-14. Retrieved on 2008-03-10. 
  3. ^ http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2948803 McGreevey wants custody and support from Matos.
  4. ^ wwsb.com, Gay ex-N.J. governor's divorce trial promises sordid details
  5. ^ www.gmanews.tv, Gay ex-NJ gov's divorce trial promises sordid details
  6. ^ I Had Threesomes With Jim Mcgreevey, Wife: Driver - New York Post
  7. ^ MacIntosh, Jeanne. "I Was McG and Wife's Three-way Sex Stud: Ex-driver", The New York Post, 2008-03-17. Retrieved on 2008-03-17. 
  8. ^ http://www.oprah.com/tows/slide/200705/20070501/slide_20070501_284_101.jhtml Matos On Oprah
  9. ^ http://www2.oprah.com/tows/slide/200609/20060919/slide_20060919_284_113.jhtml McGreevey on Oprah
  10. ^ "Matos says through it all McGreevey had everything choreographed for his own benefit", ABC News, 2007-05-02. 
  11. ^ http://www2.oprah.com/spiritself/omag/ss_omag_200706_mcgreevey.jhtml June 2007 O Magazine interview
Preceded by
Diane DiFrancesco		 First Lady of New Jersey
January 2002 – November 2004		 Succeeded by
Mary Jo Codey