Jeanette Dousdebes Rubio | |
|---|---|
 Jeanette Dousdebes in 2025 | |
| Born | Jeanette Christina Dousdebes December 5, 1973 Miami, Florida, U.S. |
| Education | South Miami High School |
| Alma mater | Miami Dade College |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 4 |
Jeanette Christina Dousdebes Rubio (born December 5, 1973) is an American former professional cheerleader, who is married to United States Secretary of State and former Senator Marco Rubio. [1]
Jeanette was born in Florida, to parents who had emigrated from Colombia. [2] When she was six, her parents divorced. [3] Jeanette was raised Roman Catholic and attended South Miami High School. She met her future husband, Marco Rubio, at a neighborhood party when she was 17 and he was 19. [4] [5] [6] [7] After graduating from high school, she attended Miami Dade College. [3]
Before her marriage, she worked as a bank teller. [4] In 1997, she became a member of the Miami Dolphins Cheerleaders. [4] [3] Her sister, Adriana Dousdebes, was also a cheerleader for the Dolphins. [3] Jeanette was featured in the Miami Dolphins Cheerleaders' first swimsuit calendar. [8] It was during her time as a cheerleader that Jeanette Dousdebes and Marco Rubio, who were only slightly acquainted in high school, reacquainted and began to date. [9]
When the Rubios were first married, she enrolled in a course of study in fashion design at International Fine Arts College, but did not complete her studies, devoting herself, instead, to being a full-time mother of four children. [2] [3]
During her husband's service in the Florida legislature, Rubio lived with the children near Miami, traveling to Tallahassee to be with her husband as often as she could. [10] [7]
During the race for speaker, she was enlisted by her husband to manage the political action committees he used to support his travel and consultants, a decision he later described as a "disaster" as it resulted in confusion on financial transactions related to travel and expenses, due to "inexperience, sloppiness and a blur of paperwork" according to a report by the Tampa Bay Times. [2]
Unlike many spouses of presidential candidates, Rubio did not make campaign speeches. [11] [12]
Rubio's campaign spotlighted her career as a Dolphins cheerleader in a television ad broadcast shortly before the Iowa caucuses, the New Hampshire primary, and the NFL playoffs. [13]
The Washington Post reported that Rubio is a part-time employee of the Norman Braman Family 2011 Charitable Foundation, which is also a financial backer of her husband Marco Rubio, and likely to commit as much as US$10 million to pro-Rubio PACs. [14]
Rubio volunteers for an organization called Kristi's House, which serves youth in the Miami area who have been abused or involved in human trafficking. [15]
The Rubios live in West Miami, Florida, close to Jeanette's three sisters. [15]
The Rubios had a Catholic wedding on October 27, 1998, at the Church of the Little Flower in Coral Gables, Florida and have four children: Daniella, Amanda, Dominick, and Anthony. [16] [6] [3] [17]
Rubio and her family regularly attend both Roman Catholic Mass at Church of the Little Flower and Protestant worship services at Christ Fellowship, [18] an Evangelical megachurch aligned with the Southern Baptist Convention. [19] She hosts a weekly Bible study class in her home. [3] Her three youngest children attend a private Protestant Christian school while the eldest attends a Catholic high school. [2] [20]
Media related to Jeanette Dousdebes Rubio at Wikimedia Commons
