Denise Lombardo, Jordan Belfort’s First Wife
Unlike Belfort and Macaluso, the real Wolf of Wall Street’s first wife, Denise Lombardo, has largely avoided the public eye. Once again, Lombardo’s name is never mentioned in the Martin Scorsese film, but she is represented by the character Teresa Petrillo, played by Cristin Milioti.
Personal PhotoDenise Lombardo and Jordan Belfort before the Stratton Oakmont years.
Lombardo was one of the few key figures at the center of the true story behind The Wolf of Wall Street to have known Belfort before he made his millions. In his memoir, Belfort wrote that he met Lombardo, who was reportedly working in a hair salon, while he was selling meat door-to-door, and he was “blown away” by her beauty.
He asked for her phone number and then rushed home to get his Porsche, hoping it would impress her. The two married in 1985, but they weren’t ready to settle down fully. Belfort’s career as a meat salesman wasn’t paying off, and he had already given up on the idea of becoming a dentist. Eventually, at the age of 25, he was forced to file for bankruptcy — and that’s when he started working as a stockbroker.
Paramount PicturesLeonardo DiCaprio and Cristin Milioti in The Wolf of Wall Street as Jordan Belfort and Teresa Petrillo.
Suddenly, money became a point of obsession for Belfort, but Lombardo stuck with him — until he met Nadine Caridi.
Lombardo and Belfort didn’t divorce until 1991, but the Wolf admitted later that he had cheated on Lombardo “dozens of times” before she found out. The affair became a public debacle, painting an image of Lombardo as, according to Belfort, “some old socialite who’d lost her sex appeal — like she was being traded in for a girl who still had some life left in her!”
Lombardo has never spoken about her marriage to Belfort or the tumultuous divorce. In fact, she hasn’t spoken publicly about anything, really. Some reports suggest she went on to work in the real estate business, but she ultimately disappeared from the public view in the early 1990s.
