Meet Jeanette Rubio: the wife of Trump’s new Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, has Colombian immigrant parents and was a Miami Dolphins cheerleader – now she’s a political spouse and mother of 4
Jeanette met Marco when she was 17 and they dated for years before marrying in 1998; she once worked for billionaire Norman Braman, but her career is now taking a back seat as she raises her children
Trump and Rubio were once political foes who sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, which Trump ultimately won. Rubio went on to become a Trump ally and his new role will see him play a critical role in US foreign policy.
Rubio, 53, is certainly no newcomer to the political stage – or the accompanying public spotlight – and wife Jeanette Rubio had to acclimatise quickly to being a political spouse while trying to stay low-key. Although she appears in public to support her husband at political events, Jeanette appears to prefer the simple life.
Here is what you need to know about the mum-of-four who has been an “influence for good” on the incoming Secretary of State.
Her parents were immigrants
Jeanette’s parents were immigrants from Colombia who raised her and three sisters in a Roman Catholic household. Her mother owned a small transport business while her father was employed by a printing company and carried out fumigation work. According to The Hill, her parents divorced when she was six, leaving Jeanette yearning to build a conventional family life of her own. According to the publication she is a member of the Christ Fellowship Church and hosts weekly Bible study classes at her home.
She was a Miami Dolphins cheerleader
If you research Jeanette Rubio, her Miami Dolphins cheerleading career is among the first things to come up. She spent a year with the team and even posed for its first swimsuit calendar, in 1997, a year before she married Marco. But according to The New York Times, Jeanette didn’t take to the cheerleading life, with the strict training sessions and weight monitoring – and the extrovert nature of the job – not suiting her.