What is Michaele Salahi's Net Worth?
Michaele Salahi is an American television personality and socialite who has a net worth of $10 million. Michaele Salahi burst onto the public scene with her then-husband, Tareq Salahi, when the duo crashed the White House state dinner held in honor of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2009. A year later, she joined the cast of the reality show "The Real Housewives of D.C." In December 2013, Michaele married Journey guitarist Neal Schon.
Early Life
Salahi was born on October 1, 1969, and given the name Michaele Ann Holt. Her father is Howard A. Holt Jr., and her mother is Rosemary O'Malley. She has three siblings – Debbie, Howard III, and Glen. She was raised in Fairfax, Virginia. After high school, Salahi began attending King's College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, though she did not graduate with a degree.
Career
Salahi began working as a front-desk employee at the hit radio station WKRZ in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in 1989. She soon after moved to Washington, D.C. where she worked at the make-up counter at Nordstrom. She remained in this role for most of the 1990s. She has stated that she was a former cheerleader for the Washington Redskins football team, though the Redskins issued a statement that she had never worked for them. Additionally, Salahi has made statements about being featured in various ad campaigns, which has not been confirmed. She also claimed to have formerly won the Miss USA title, though no record exists of her participation in the pageant.
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Her most notable claim to fame occurred in September of 2009 when she and her husband crashed a state dinner held at the White House. The couple was somehow able to make it past multiple security checkpoints on foot after their vehicle had been turned away at the entrance. The two were not on the guest list, and security failed to verify their identification. The Salahis posted pictures of themselves at the dinner on their Facebook pages, which led the security team to realize their mistake. An investigation was later launched into the incident, and Salahi was requested to appear at a hearing in December 2009, though she refused.
In 2010, she was cast on Bravo TV's reality show, "The Real Housewives of D.C." The series was the fifth installment of the popular "The Real Housewives" franchise but did not prove as popular as some of the original versions. It only aired for one season before being canceled. Both Michaele and her then-husband Tareq appeared on the show and were the frequent causes of significant drama.
Personal Life
In 2000, Salahi met Tareq Salahi at a baby shower. The two began dating and then were married in a 2003 ceremony at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C. The guest list included upwards of 1,800 guests, including Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy and the former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland, Margaret Heckler.
In September of 2011, Tareq filed a missing persons report for his wife, but it was later discovered that she had run off with Neal Schon, whom she had started seeing romantically. In August of 2012, the Salahis divorced. She then got engaged to Schon in October of 2012 after he proposed to her onstage during a charity concert at the Lyric Opera House in Baltimore, Maryland. The couple married on December 15, 2013, at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, California. The ceremony was filmed and made available via pay-per-view for $14.95.
