Marisol Maldonado: Rob Thomas' wife illness, career, family, marriage
Marisol Maldonado is one of several personalities who have ridden on the back of their spouses' popularity to become famous. Some of these individuals make the most of their newly attained media popularity to create value and wealth for themselves and others. A few others, like Marisol, use it for a cause that resonates with humanity.
Maldonado Marisol was a fashion model but now walks a different path. She is the president and co-founder of an animal advocacy group known as Sidewalk Angels. However, Marisol has not let her battle with various illnesses cloud her passion for standing up for the weak. Interestingly, she has also tried her hands at production, thereby producing some of her husband's work.
Marisol Maldonado's bio summary
- Birth name: Marisol Maldonado
- Nickname: Mari
- Date of birth: 27th of May, 1971
- Age: 50 years old (as of 2021)
- Profession: Former model, producer, and co-founder of Sidewalk Angels
- Famous as: Wife of Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter Robert Kelly Thomas, popularly known as Rob Thomas.
- Place of birth: New York, United States of America
- Nationality: American
- Sexuality: Straight
- Current residence: New York, USA
- Ethnicity: Latino
- Zodiac sign: Gemini
- Height: 5 feet and 7 inches
- Body build: Fit
- Eye colours: Dark Brown
- Hair colour: Brown
- Relationship: Rob Thomas
- Children: None
- Stepchildren: Maison Avery William Thomas
Early life
Marisol Maldonado was born on the 27th of May, 1971, in Queens, New York City, New York, USA. As a result, Marisol Maldonado's nationality is American. She is currently 50 years old.
Marisol successfully shut out the media and general public from knowing about her family backgrounds and educational history. As a result, not much is known about her parents and siblings apart from her Puerto Rican ancestry.
Marisol Maldonado's Instagram presence is relatively unknown. She enjoys a quiet life away from the buzzing questions of the public. Notwithstanding, that is not to say that her pictures are not available online.
Career
Marisol Maldonado's career started in the fashion and modelling industry in her early 20s. That life is behind her now, and she is more renowned for being a philanthropist, co-founder of a non-profit organisation.
Her organisation, Sidewalk Angels Foundation, assists the less privileged with their medical care, among other essential needs. They also worry about animals and provide food, homes, and healthcare for strays. The foundation funds some of these projects with the proceeds from their online clothing store.
Marisol has also been involved in the production of TV documentaries and reality shows. In 2007, she led the production of a documentary about her husband titled My Secret Record. Before then, she starred in an MTV show known as Punk'd in 2006. The show was mostly about pranksters and their unsuspecting victims, who were primarily celebrities.
She plays a vital role in the success of her husband's career and has also featured in the videos of his popular songs.
Who is Marisol Maldonado married to?
Maldonado is married to Robert Kelly Thomas. Both of them met at a party in 1997 and became inseparable afterwards. They said their vows on the 2nd of October, 1999, in California. The lovebirds have stuck with each other for over two decades. Against all odds, they have kept their "for better for worse" vows.
Who is Rob Thomas? He is a famous singer and songwriter and the lead singer of the Matchbox Twenty musical band. Thomas was born in Germany and started playing the guitar at an early age. He had a tough background even after the family moved to Florida, USA. His parents divorced, and his mother was a drug addict.
Some of these conflicts took their toll on Rob's personality, and as a result, he spent some time in prison when he was 17 years old for car theft. However, Rob got his act together afterwards and chose music as a career. He formed a music band known as Tabitha's Secret, but the group did not last.
Rob rose to musical prominence when he wrote and performed a song called Smooth alongside Santana. The collaboration yielded a masterpiece that stayed on top of the Billboard charts for 12 weeks. Marisol Maldonado's Smooth music video was released afterwards.
So far, the renowned singer has won the Grammy Award three times and continues to be one of the greatest in the music industry.
Does Marisol Maldonado have a child?
Marisol Maldonado and Rob Thomas' union is not without its ups and downs. Their marriage has not produced any child, which is due to Marisol's complicated health issues.
However, she plays a motherly role in the life of Maison Avery William Thomas. Maison is the child Rob Thomas had in July 1998, a year before he married Marisol.
Rob Thomas' wife illness
In her mission to determine the cause of her health complications, Rob Thomas' wife was initially diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and Lupus. This was because she showed symptoms peculiar to people suffering from Autoimmune diseases. However, after several consultation and surgeries, she was eventually diagnosed correctly.
So, what disease does Marisol Thomas have? The doctor told Marisol that she had Lyme disease after brain surgery in 2015. This was about 12 years after Marisol Maldonado's illness began.
Lyme disease is a tick-borne disease that has several symptoms closely associated with other diseases. This characteristic makes it hard to diagnose a person with this disease properly. Nevertheless, the disease is curable if it is discovered in its early stages.
Luckily for Maldonado, she has a caring and supportive husband. On Rob's side, he has adapted to the reality of shuttling between his music career and taking care of his wife. He admits it has been challenging, but he is happy to be there for her since it has become their life. According to him, it is like an alien inhabiting her body, and they have to come to terms with it.
Despite her health condition, the philanthropist uses her situation to reach out to and motivate people with similar experiences. As a result, the Global Lyme Alliance presented her with an award in 2017 during the organization's 3rd Annual New York Gala.
In her speech, Marisol acknowledged the constant pains that she experiences. She spoke about the stigmatization and the fact that some people think they exaggerate their pains. According to her:
Living with these multiple diseases has quite literally stolen my life. I went from being a happy and fulfilled person to just existing. There isn’t a day or even a moment where I’m not in pain. Many days so excruciating that I lose track of the hours that have passed.
Where does Marisol Maldonado live?
It was reported in 2017 that Maldonado's husband got an almost 7,900-square-foot landmass house for about $4 million, assumed to be where the family lives. The house has six bedrooms and bathrooms with a dramatically curved, floating staircase, and glistening dark-stained hardwood floors.
Also, the formal living room has a massive minimalist fireplace and bowed bay window that can comfortably accommodate a grand piano. Additionally, it has a home theatre with a drop-down movie screen.
Marisol Maldonado is a huge inspiration to her husband and several others across the world. Despite the pains that her health condition causes her, she is still a blessing to her husband's musical career, which her husband is always grateful for. The inspiration he derived from his wife's health condition led to the production of Her Diamonds and Pieces.
A related publication on Yen.com.gh also discussed Tisha Taylor, Charles Quinton Murphy's late wife. Her husband praised her for her organisational details and skills, which she used to plan her funeral shortly before her death.
Although she implored Charles to remarry after her death, he did not because, according to him, no woman could fill the vacuum his wife left. Get to know more about how they met and the cause of her death from the post.
Source: YEN.com.gh