Dina Matos
First Lady of New Jersey
In role
January 15, 2002 – November 15, 2004
Preceded byDiane DiFrancesco
Succeeded byMary Jo Codey
Personal details
Born (1966-11-05) November 5, 1966
Cantanhede, Portugal
Spouse(s)
​
​
(m. 2000; div. 2008)​

Paul Zuccarino
​
(m. 2018)​
Children1
EducationRutgers University, Newark

Dina Matos (born November 5, 1966[1]) is a former First Lady of New Jersey. She served as first lady during the administration of her husband, Jim McGreevey. In advance of an expected lawsuit, Gov. McGreevey, with Matos at his side, revealed at an August 2004 press conference that he had had an affair with a man and was resigning from office. Matos and McGreevey separated in October 2004. A divorce was granted following a trial on August 8, 2008.

Biography

Matos is the daughter of Maria and Ricardo Matos. They 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]

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

Personal

Matos met 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 Christine Todd 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, who was born prematurely in December 2001, after Matos had been hospitalized for six weeks.

Dina Matos married Paul Zuccarino in 2018.

Divorce trial

The Matos and McGreevey divorce and custody battle gained much media attention in New Jersey because McGreevey wanted full custody. Matos wanted $600,000 plus alimony. She was denied alimony.[3]

The trial to end their 3½-year separation started on May 6, 2008. Jim asked the court for equal custody of their 8-year-old daughter. Matos McGreevey demanded $600,000 compensation. McGreevey received joint custody, and paid child support.[4] They were also required to use a parenting coordinator.[5]

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.[6] 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.[7][8] 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.[9]

Gayle King interviewed Matos in the June 2007 edition of O, The Oprah Magazine.[10]

References

  1. ↑ 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. 1 2 3 4 5 6 O'Donnell, Michelle; Collins, Glenn (2004-08-14). "THE GOVERNOR RESIGNS: THE WIVES; With Discretion, Two Women Stand By the Governor in His Time of Tribulation". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-03-10.
  3. ↑ https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2948803 McGreevey wants custody and support from Matos
  4. ↑ "Judge in N.J. grants McGreevey divorce, orders ex-governor to pay child support but no alimony". Chicago Tribune. Associated Press. 2008-08-08. Archived from the original on 2008-05-24. Retrieved 2008-08-08.
  5. ↑ "On the Divorce Warpath".
  6. ↑ MacIntosh, Jeanne (2008-03-17). "I Was McG and Wife's Three-way Sex Stud: Ex-driver". The New York Post. Retrieved 2008-03-17.
  7. ↑ "Jim McGreevey's Ex-Wife Ignores Signs of Deception". Oprah.com. Retrieved 2023-06-22.
  8. ↑ http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/the-dina-mcgreevey-interview_1 transcript of Dina Matos McGreevey interview on The Oprah Winfrey Show
  9. ↑ "Matos says through it all McGreevey had everything choreographed for his own benefit". ABC News. 2007-05-02.
  10. ↑ http://www2.oprah.com/spiritself/omag/ss_omag_200706_mcgreevey.jhtml June 2007 O Magazine interview
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