It’s been a bit of a rough year for The Real Housewives of New Jersey star Danielle Staub, and one of the main reasons why was her extremely brief rocky marriage and eventual split from Marty Caffrey.
While several of her costars could see trouble brewing well in advance of the May 2018 nuptials in the Bahamas, Danielle insisted they were fine and in a good place, and were committed to making their marriage work. By October, she was singing a vastly different song.
So just who is this guy who waltzed in and out of Danielle’s life, leaving a trail of drama, tears, and plenty of television footage and fodder for seasons (and reunions) to come?
Caffrey, 66, is from South Jersey (hence Danielle’s super-creative nickname for him, “South Jersey boy”) and while Danielle hinted at him having a job on Wall Street, his actual profession has never been publicly identified.
According to his Instagram page, however, he claims to be an “entrepreneur, investor, and retired managing director investment banking-Credit Suisse NYC.”
His Instagram posts appear to have several photos of friends and family (including two daughters and a cute little granddaughter!)
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Looks like he spent some time playing ball, too: According to Seton Hall’s athletics page, he played four years of baseball while attending college there, as a varsity pitcher. After graduation, he signed with the New York Yankees and played in their minor leagues for two years.
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In fact, Caffrey appears to have lived a very quiet, private life…until he crossed paths with Danielle Staub. The two met on the set of RHONJ and started dating in April 2016, and just over a year later, Marty proposed on camera (so much for privacy!).
Although Danielle was certainly no stranger to proposals (Marty was her 20th!), she was over the moon, gushing on her Instagram account that he was a “wonderful man” and she was “blessed to have him in her life.”
Sadly, that seems to no longer be the case, as these days Danielle is claiming that her soon-to-be ex is “not a well man” and making accusations of him being physically and emotionally abusive. After he filed for divorce a mere four months after they exchanged vows, she filed a temporary restraining order against him after an alleged incident at her home in August.
Danielle also claimed in court documents that Caffrey “subjected her to acts of extreme cruelty,” allegedly mocking the abuse she suffered as a child and recording them having sex without her knowledge or consent, as well as verbally abusing her daughters, Christine and Jillian.
Caffrey responded to the allegations by telling Us Weekly, “I expected Danielle to go this route. She’s in a panic when I refused to drop the divorce and the negative blowback she’s been receiving after attacking my kids. But only Danielle Staub’s mind is capable of fabricating this type of stuff.
“She wanted to reconcile three days ago and told me she loved me. If I were guilty of any of these things, why would you want to reconcile?
“Danielle will go to any depth to slander people and be the victim. Bringing her daughters into this? I feel sorry for them. Be a mother! None of this is accurate or even close to the truth. This is simply Danielle Staub trying to take people out like she has in her past, but it’s not going to work this time.”
This very vicious battle of he said, she said isn’t likely to go away anytime soon, although it’s unclear how much of it RHONJ viewers will see play out on TV, as Danielle’s airtime for Season 10 appears to have drastically dwindled following a feud with Margaret Josephs.