CBS will feature the former Miami Dolphins quarterback in its Super Bowl XLVII segments as scheduled as saying, 'Dan has said all there is to say on this matter.'
- Feb 1, 2013
AceShowbiz - Shocking news comes from Dan Marino, an NFL great who has long been considered as one of the most squeaky clean athletes in pro sport. The former Miami Dolphins quarterback is revealed to have cheated on his wife of 28 years, Claire. He has a child from the secret relationship and reportedly paid his mistress millions of dollars to keep it secret.
Marino had affair with Donna Savattere, a then 35-year-old production assistant at CBS Sports' Manhattan Studio. The 51-year-old Hall of Famer met the junior employee while serving as a pregame analyst for the network, where he worked since 2003. She moved from NY to Texas to as part of the deal. She gave birth to their daughter, Chloe, in June 2005.
"This is a personal and private matter. I take full responsibility both personally and financially for my actions now as I did then," the football hero said in a written statement to New York Post. "We mutually agreed to keep our arrangement private to protect all parties involved."
The news broke out Thursday morning, January 31, one day after Marino's 28th wedding anniversary with Claire. "My wife and I have been married for almost 30 years and have six children together," he insisted, "and we continue to be a strong and loving family."
Marino looked at ease, smiling when he's spotted back to work to tape CBS's Super Bowl XLVII segments after the secret was revealed. He will be featured in the coverage as initially scheduled. "Dan has said all there is to say on this matter, and will be in his usual role on our broadcast Super Bowl Sunday," the network explained.
Marino and his wife Claire have four sons and adopted two daughters from China. "To Claire and the kids, you guys are my true Hall of Famers. You guys are my whole life. You mean everything to me," he said at the Hall of Fame ceremony in 2005, two months before Savattere gave birth to his secret lovechild.
Savattere herself has married banker Nahill Younis, whom she met on a trip to the Bahamas. The couple had a son together before tying the knot at their home in the Hamptons in 2009.
