Nadine Caridi, The Real-Life Naomi Lapaglia
Margot Robbie’s big break came when she accepted the role of Naomi Lapaglia in The Wolf of Wall Street, but like many other characters in the film, there is no “real” Naomi Lapaglia. Rather, the character was heavily inspired by a real person from Belfort’s life — in this case, his second wife Nadine Caridi.
Dr. Nadine Macaluso/FacebookNadine Macaluso (née Caridi) was a model and the second wife of Jordan Belfort.
At the time, Caridi was best known as a model and actress, appearing in a variety of ads for Miller Lite and Seagram’s. She met Belfort at a rowdy party in the Hamptons while he was still married to his first wife. Just like in the film, someone at the party exposed himself to Caridi, and she wanted to leave immediately. But Belfort had noticed her — and become infatuated.
He pursued Caridi relentlessly, eventually beginning an affair with her. They married relatively quickly after his first marriage came to an end, and he often showered Caridi with gifts and other luxuries. However, their romance was anything but storybook.
Caridi, who now goes by her new surname, Macaluso, would later become a psychologist, focusing on helping people overcome trauma from past relationships. In hindsight, she has spoken at length about the numerous “red flags” she ignored in her relationship with Belfort — namely, his threat to leave her if she refused to marry him just six months into their relationship.
But the biggest issue that pervaded throughout their relationship was Belfort’s drug use and infidelity. Their marriage spanned a total of 14 years, most of which were during the worst parts of the Stratton Oakmont era. The event that tipped it over the edge, though, was Belfort’s 22 months behind bars as a result of his pump and dump stock fraud scheme.
Paramount PicturesMargot Robbie as Naomi Lapaglia, a character inspired by Nadine Caridi.
Despite her nickname, the “Duchess of Bay Ridge,” Macaluso has stated that her relationship with Belfort was never about the money. “People think I left because he lost all of our money,” Macaluso wrote for Newsweek in 2022, “but I ended the marriage because I finally could. I felt safe.”
Macaluso ultimately returned to school, earned a Ph.D in psychotherapy, and shared her experience being married to the real Wolf of Wall Street as a way of helping other women move on from similar situations.
