Jeanine and Albert Pirro's tumultuous marriage: Fox host bugged cheating husband's boat to catch him red-handed
Fox News host Jeanine Pirro made headlines over the weekend after she terminated prominent immigration attorney David Leopold's appearance on her show Saturday, March 20, after he called out "lack of facts" on her program and praised President Joe Biden. Pirro is no stranger to being in the limelight, especially due to her tumultuous relationship with her husband, Albert J. Pirro, over the years.
In 2000, Albert was convicted of federal tax fraud and ended up serving 11 months in prison. Jeanine stayed with her husband throughout the case and sentence, even after he admitted fathering a child with another woman and caused her public embarrassment during her political campaign by telling the press she wasn't giving him enough attention.
However, in November 2007, she finally announced that she was separating from her husband.
READ MORE
"We have agreed to amicably separate," the couple, who had been married for more than three decades, said in a written statement released by spokesman Michael McKeon. "As always, our priority remains our two wonderful children. We ask that people respect our privacy." The couple shares two children together, Christi and Alexander.
Albert admitted to extramarital affair because of lack of attention from wife
In 2006, as Jeanine, then a former Westchester County district attorney, turned her attention to the attorney general seat, rumors began to circulate that Albert was spotted out with Lisa Santangelo, a woman 20 years younger than his wife. Santangelo was a married woman and lived in the same town as the Pirros, and her husband was the lawyer who represented Albert during his 2000 court case. Prior to that, Albert had admitted that while married to Jeanine, he had fathered a child with a different woman.
Later in 2006, when Albert was asked during an interview with New York Magazine about his relationship with Lisa, he denied having a new affair but said he sought the company of other women because he was not getting enough attention from his wife. "There's no harm in having a female friend. I think there's a difference between being charming and holding yourself out as being available," he told the publication.
He added: "You need to have someone tell you that you're smart or you're good-looking or you made a good business decision. Do I think that I would like to have more attention at home? Yeah, and, you know, if you're not going to get attention at home, I think you really need to make some decisions about your future." He also mentioned that he believed his wife's political career had hurt him financially and legally. Despite the public embarrassment, Jeanine said that she had no plans to seek a divorce, insisting she had loved her husband from the day they met.
Jeanine tried to catch husband red-handed
Appearing on the Sean Hannity radio show, Jeanine once said, "I have fought very hard to keep my marriage together. I believe my kids need a father and he's a great father." She even went to great lengths to catch her cheating husband red-handed by wire-tapping her husband's boat. "Sometime last year, I came to believe that my husband was seeing another woman. I was angry and had him followed to see if what I suspected was true," she said in a statement at the time. She did deny setting up the bug herself on the boat.
Although the pair separated in 2007, they were officially divorced only in 2013. They subsequently listed their $4.75 million mansion for sale in 2016. Later, Albert became one of those who was pardoned by former President Donald Trump in his last days in office. Not only was Jeanine a friend of Trump's, but Albert had represented Trump in the past as a lawyer.