Jordan Belfort is a former stockbroker and convicted felon who detailed his stock market scams in his 2007 memoir The Wolf of Wall Street. As a Wall Street tycoon, he indulged in two vices: drugs and women. He was married twice and is a father to two children. He divorced his first wife, Denise Lombardo, in favor of Nadine Caridi.
In the movie version of The Wolf of Wall Street, Margot Robbie played a character named Naomi Lapaglia. Behind the character is a real woman with a fascinating life story. Lapaglia was based on Nadine Caridi, ex-wife of disgraced “Wolf” Jordan Belfort (played on-screen by Leonardo DiCaprio.) Find out everything we know about her—including what she’s up to years after splitting up with Belfort.
Nadine Caridi Is Jordan Belfort’s Ex-Wife
Nadine Caridi, who now goes by Nadine Macaluso, is Jordan Belfort’s second wife. She met Belfort at the tail-end of the ’80s while the finance fraudster was still married to his first wife. According to Page Six, Caridi was introduced to Belfort by her own ex-boyfriend, entrepreneur and race car driver Alan Wilzig.
“Twenty-odd years ago while ‘The Wolf’ was still growing his fangs—I had my first post-college relationship,” Wilzig wrote on Facebook. “At the end of year two, as friendly exes I took Nadine to Jordan Belfort’s July 4th Westhampton Beach House party where the two of them met…He left his high school sweetheart wife to marry her; and the rest you can see in the movie.”
Caridi was married to Belfort from 1991 until 1998. She had two children with him: son Carter and daughter Chandler.
Margot Robbie Portrayed A Woman In Caridi’s Shoes In ‘The Wolf Of Wall Street’
Margot Robbie’s role as Naomi Lapaglia was not intended to be a true-to-life portrayal of Caridi. However, the real-life and on-screen wives shared limited patience for Belfort’s antics.
“I was creating a character that was in the same situation that she was in, that lived the life that she was in, but I was by no means trying to be her or portray her at that time,” Robbie told IndieWire.
“When I asked what would they fight about, [Caridi] was like, ‘The drugs. The fact that he was a drug addict … I didn’t care about the hookers or coming home late.’ … She said he would be doing crack in front of their newborn baby. Any mother would divorce their husband for that.”
How Did Divorce Affect Caridi?
There’s little info on what kind of divorce settlement Caridi received. However, Belfort gave a clue in 2015 when he spoke to Notable Life.
“Sign a prenup,” said Belfort. “Don’t get yourself in a situation where if you get divorced you will screw yourself.”
Caridi told Ohio news station WFMJ that after eight years of marriage, she and the kids relocated to California with no financial support from Belfort. At 39, she enrolled at the Pacifica Graduate Institute and earned two degrees: a master’s in counseling and a Ph.D. in Somatic and Depth psychology. She since remarried John Macaluso, with whom she has shared a blended family of five kids for 22 years.
What Is Caridi Doing Now?
Caridi is now professionally known as Dr. Nae. Armed with her degrees, she works in private practice as a licensed marriage and family therapist and relationship expert. She splits her time between Hermosa Beach, California, and Glen Cove, New York.
She currently runs a mental health YouTube channel called Dr. Nae’s Talking Bar, which showcases “people who thrived after overcoming challenging painful experiences and demonstrate how adversity transformed them, enrich their lives, and help them reach their unique potential.”
We get a sense that Caridi’s personal experience with Belfort informs much of her work. While her ex-husband continues to dodge scandals and rebuild his reputation, it looks like Dr. Nae is in a better place now that she’s escaped the wolf’s den.
She’s Also Speaking Her Truth About The Real-Life Events Of ‘The Wolf Of Wall Street’
In 2022, Caridi released a series of TikTok videos giving her side of The Wolf of Wall Street story and discussing the lessons she learned about pathological relationships. She had not previously spoken out about her experience because she was focused on parenting her children, but as she began to focus on trauma bonds as a therapist, it became more important to her to share her insight publicly.
In the series, she uses her relationship with Belfort to discuss gaslighting, signs of a trauma bond relationship, and why it’s so serious if your partner lacks remorse, empathy, or compassion. She offers some incredible insights, and it’s inspiring to see her use her own trauma to help others.
She also weighs in on the accuracy of the movie version of The Wolf of Wall Street. While she thought Margot Robbie’s performance was “fantastic,” she also commented that “if you look at it through Jordan’s lens, it was really accurate, and…if you look at it through my lens, it wasn’t.” The movie portrays the story from Jordan’s perspective, which is actually fitting, since that’s how their relationship worked.
It’s exciting to see Caridi setting the record straight. We’d definitely encourage any fans of the film to check out her TikTok to get the other side of the story.