All About Nadine Menendez? Who Is Bob Menendez's Wife

Bob Menendez and his wife, Nadine Menendez, were embroiled in controversy when they were indicted on bribery charges in September 2023.

The embattled New Jersey senator met Nadine at an IHOP in Union City, N.J., in December 2018 before getting engaged less than a year later in front of the Taj Mahal in India. The two got married exactly a year after Bob proposed, on Oct. 3, 2020.

Bob was previously married to his first wife, Jane Jacobsen, whom he divorced in 2005. The two share two children, Alicia and Rob, together.

After his wedding to Nadine, Bob told The New York Times that when he first met her, he thought she was “beautiful and bright and had such a great personality. There was just this aura about her.”

Now, the couple are the center of political turmoil as Bob was found guilty on all 16 charges against him in July 2024. Nadine was indicted on 15 charges, but her trial has been indefinitely postponed as she undergoes treatment for grade 3 breast cancer.

So who is Bob Menendez’s wife? Here’s everything to know about Nadine Menendez and her relationship with the senator.

Nadine was born in Beirut, Lebanon, to Armenian parents who fled to Greece and England after the civil war in the country, she shared on The Armenian Report podcast in April 2020. The family then moved to Palo Alto, Calif. before settling in New York.

She has been an advocate for Armenia throughout her life, raising awareness of the ArmenianGenocide and inspiring Bob to lead the call for President Joe Biden to become the first U.S. president to officially recognize the genocide in 2021.

Nadine is also a mother to two kids — Sabine and André — both of whom went to an Armenian nursery school and can speak, read and write fluent Armenian, in addition to English, Spanish and French.

Nadine attended New York University for both her undergraduate and graduate education, majoring in international politics and French culture and civilization. However, Nadine never worked after graduation, her sister Katia Tabourian shared during her testimony in her court case.

While Nadine was in her first marriage, which lasted 15 years, she was a stay-at-home mom and after they divorced, she never had regular employment. Instead, she supported herself by using her mother’s inheritance, alimony and child support, as well as selling some of her family heirlooms, per her sister.

"For decades, Nadine has had to find a way to get by, long before she ever met Bob. How was she paying for kids' clothes? How was she paying for dinners? How was she living her life without a career?" Menendez's lawyer Adam Fee said in his closing argument in July 2024. 

He continued, "Nadine was supporting herself by selling gold, by selling jewelry, by selling other things. I don't think she wanted to do that because these were family heirlooms, but I don't think she had any other option … That's why there's cash in her house."

A month after Bob and Nadine were indicted, The New York Times and The Record reported that Nadine had hit and killed a pedestrian with her car in a 2018 incident. According to a police report and dash cam footage of the crash, Nadine was declared “not at fault” because the man, who was identified as 49-year-old Richard Koop, was jaywalking.

Nadine was allowed to leave the scene without being tested for drugs or alcohol or being taken into custody. An attorney for the victim's estate told The Record that per a surveillance video from a business on the same street, the senator’s wife “did not come to Koop's aid or to even check on him.”

A settlement “for the maximum amount” was secured by the victim's family, the attorney confirmed.

Bob and Nadine met in December 2018 when the owner of an IHOP in Union City, N.J. introduced the two of them.

“I didn’t know at that time that Bob was a senator,” Nadine told The New York Times of the moment. “He was very intelligent and had a great sense -

‘A Con Man Who Told Lie After Lie,,...

of humor, and he was very, very hot.” 

Less than a year after meeting, Bob proposed to Nadine on Oct. 3, 2019, in front of the iconic Taj Mahal. Bob is known for his affinity for singing and told Nadine that she’d know she was being proposed to when he sang a special song.

“When I tried asking more questions about the song, he started joking and said, ‘Well, if you don’t recognize the song when you hear it, then this wasn’t meant to be,’ ” Nadine told The New York Times.

After traveling to four continents together in five months, Bob got down on one knee while Nadine was sitting on the Princess Diana bench in front of the iconic mausoleum. He started singing “Never Enough” from The Greatest Showman, including lyrics “Towers of gold are still too little/These hands could hold the world but it’ll/Never be enough.”

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Nadine and Bob got married exactly a year after they got engaged on Oct. 3, 2020.

“It has been a rough & tough many months for all of us, but I’m incredibly grateful to share this personal moment of joy in marrying Nadine,” Bob wrote on Facebook at the time. “We never imagined having an outdoor wedding due to a pandemic, but it was a lovely & joyous day we will never forget.”

Six months after their wedding, Bob moved into Nadine’s Englewood, N.J. home, which she’d lived in for 20 years, including with her ex-husband. However, Bob spent the majority of his time living in D.C. while Nadine stayed in New Jersey.

"They did not share any bank accounts, any credit cards, or any other financial obligations," Bob’s lawyer Avi Weitzman said during the trial. "They had separate finances. The house that Nadine owned was in her name, not Bob's, and she had a mortgage on it that Bob did not pay, and didn't receive the statements for." 

In September 2023, Nadine and Bob were charged with bribery after an investigation into their dealings with three businessmen connected to the Egyptian government. According to the 39-page indictment, the couple accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bribes in return for the protection of Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes and to "benefit" the government of Egypt.

"This corrupt relationship resulted in Robert Menendez, the defendant, promising to take and taking a series of official acts and breaches of official duty in exchange for bribes that benefitted him both directly, and indirectly through Nadine Menendez," the indictment claimed.

The document alleged that the senator “provided sensitive U.S. Government information” and other details to Egypt and helped protect Hana’s monopoly granted to him by the country.

In exchange, the senator and his wife received a plethora of gifts in the form of cash, a car and more.

In July 2024, Bob was found guilty on all 16 counts of bribery after an eight-week corruption trial.

According to prosecutors, Nadine was central to the bribery scheme, with Bob’s attornies alleging that she “kept him in the dark” when it came to what she asked others for.

"She kept things from him," Weitzman said in his opening statements. "She was outgoing; she was fun-loving. But she wasn't going to let Bob know that she had financial problems."

Meanwhile, in his closing statement, prosecutor Paul Monteleoni alleged that Bob was “in charge,” while Nadine was his “go-between, demanding payment, receiving payment and passing messages” but keeping him informed.

Though Nadine was also charged with 15 bribery charges, her trial has been indefinitely postponed due to her breast cancer diagnosis, per NBC News.

“Nadine is suffering from Grade 3 breast cancer, which will require her to have mastectomy surgery,” Bob said in a May statement. “We are of course concerned about the seriousness and advanced stage of the disease.”

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