Dave Portnoy still has a close-knit relationship with his ex-wife, Renee Portnoy.
“We met when Barstool was nothing, so she rode the grind up with us,” Dave, 47, said on a recent episode of “The Sage Steele Show” podcast. “Still, currently, basically she has access to all my money. If she just wanted to be like, ‘I’m taking it and gone,’ she could.”
Dave proposed to Renee, 41, in 2008 and they got married the following year. Throughout the company’s early days, she was referred to as the “First Lady of Barstool.” After eight years together, the couple announced their separation in 2017.
Their breakup was amicable — and Dave revealed on the same podcast episode that he and Renee are still actually married after their legal separation was finalized years ago.
“We’re still technically married right now, so she still has access,” he said. “We tried to get a divorce in Massachusetts, denied.”
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When podcast host Sage Steele questioned how a judge can “deny a divorce,” Dave explained that it has to do with their money situation. (It’s been estimated that Dave has a net worth of around $150 million.)
“Her and I have a very fluid relationship with our finances,” he continued. “She’s not like, ‘Give me half,’ and we’ve been separated legally for a long time. The judge said our agreement wasn’t equitable to her. They’re like, ‘He’s worth a lot more you have to give half.’”
According to Dave, Renee told the judge that she didn’t want half of his fortune.
“So, we’re going to do it in Florida,” he added. “But we’ve had that joint bank account forever. I trust her implicitly.”
Dave acknowledged that he and Renee still have a great relationship — he’s even referred to her as a best friend — despite their separation.
“We both share love of dogs,” he said, “She’ll still say hello to my parents and vice versa.”
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Dave added, “We spent a lot of time together from Barstool being nothing to it growing and we separated when it started really hitting the peak. But she was with me every step of the way. In my mind she’s entitled to enjoy the fruits of it. She’s far more frugal than I am.”
Because she was there at the beginning of Barstool, Dave noted that there was a “unique lifelong bond” between them. The Barstool Sports founder also made it clear that there was no “big blowout at the end” of their relationship.
“We always got along,” Dave said. “The marriage wasn’t working the way that we wanted it to.”
