Pat Benatar is an American singer and songwriter plus an actress who has won Grammy Award with five platinum and three gold-certified albums. Her popular songs include Hit me with your best shot and Love is a battlefield. She has been married to Neil Giraldo for four decades.
Let us explore her married life.
Pat Benatar Married Life With Husband Neil Giraldo
Pat Benatar has been with her guitarist husband, Neil Giraldo, for nearly 40 years now, and the couple talked about their relationship and successful collaboration of 40 years with Jim Axelrod, Correspondent. When asked about the root of their successful collaboration, the singer answered the question saying that they were connected in so many different ways where they can be parents, lovers, husband, and wife, grandparents, musicians, writers. Pat started her career after she saw someone doing what she truly wanted in her heart at a Liza Minnelli concert at Richfield Coliseum. She said, “I quit my job the next day and started looking for gigs. I had never done anything like this in my entire life.”
Benatar had her first big event at Halloween 1977, where she wore a costume from the B-movie, Cat-Women of the Moon, and had a makeup of big eyeliner and wore short black tights, short boots, and a Ray Gun. Then she signed her first record deal in 1978 and met her future husband at 22 years old from there. Her husband, Gilrado, said, “All that I was looking for was a great performer. I wanted to find that person so I could produce great music and write songs.” The singer also shared that she didn’t want to be an artist solo and wanted what Robert Plant and Jimmy Page or Keith and Mick had together.
Giraldo talked about their first collaboration, which was Heartbreaker, and he said, “ I just knew it. I was not looking back.”
They realized their relationship was deeper than just musical collaborators and got married in 1982. She said, “I didn’t start it by myself. He and me did this together, starting from Day One. Someone said that he didn’t understand why his name had to be on the marquee. I said, ‘Because every song you love and listen too is created by him, ass****”
They also shared their plan of bringing their songs as the basis of a musical, a modernized version of Romeo and Juliet in Broadway next season. Pat shared, “We Live for Love is the balcony scene. It’s gorgeous. It feels like it was written just for you!” They named the musical ‘invincible’ and stated that the whole point of the musical was the differences between us can make us stronger and not weaker; she added, “That’s what the story is about and true love exists.”
Her husband, Neil Gilrado, is a native of Cleveland, Ohio, and his real name is Patricia Mae Andrzejewski. He joined Pat’s band as a guitarist in 1979 and worked together to create 15 hits that went on to earn Four consecutive Grammys and sold 36 million albums over a 40-year career. Before, He was a key member of the Rick Derringer band after beating out 200 other guitarists for the position. He is also the founder and chairman of Steel Bending Spirits LLC, which was based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 2017.
The singer had shared about their first meeting, saying he didn’t bring a guitar and said, “ he doesn’t even bring his axe? So I turn around ready to just glare at him and then I see him, and I’m just like (sharp intake of breath).” However, she was married to her high school sweetheart in 1972 and going through divorce processes while Gilrado was dating actress Linda Blair and when Gilrado confessed to Pat about Blair’s affairs, their relationship had its beginning. They even wrote a song about their personal feelings for each other titled Promises in the Dark, which was a hit in 1981.
Their wedding was a sudden decision when they were in Hawaii for work, and while driving around Maui, the pair decided to get married on the spot and asked strangers walking to serve as the wedding’s witnesses. And after a few days, the rock and roll legend shared the happy news with the press saying, “I’m really happy. The setting – and the privacy – were just what we wanted.”
The rock and roll couple has two daughters together. Haley Egeana Giraldo was born in 1985 and Hana Giraldo was born in 1994. Haley is married to Matt Williams and has one daughter named Stevie James. Haley followed her parents' footsteps and was once in a band called Glo and even toured with her mother. She is also a model and social media personality like her sister, Hana Gilrado, who has over 700k followers on Instagram.
The couple welcomed their first granddaughter in 2018 and posted a photo of their grandchild, writing, “We are hopelessly in love! Thank you to our darling daughter and wonderful son-in-law for giving us this beautiful gift. For all of you who are grandparents, thrilled to be in the club! Thanks to all of you for your blessings and good wishes!”
Net Worth Of Pat Benatar
The legendary singer Pat Benatar’s net worth is around $40 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
The singer was born Patricia Mae Andrzejewski in 1953 to Polish father Andrew and Irish mother Mildred in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Pat was interested in arts and theatre from an early age and surprised her parents by choosing health education at the State University in New York which she dropped out from.
After her marriage with her first husband, she worked as a bank teller in Virginia and quit the job in 1973 to follow her real interest. She started by singing at nightclubs and received a gig for singing for a lounge band, Coxon’s Army. Then her big break came from performing Judy’s Rock-a-Bye Your Baby and having a role in Harry Chaplin’s futuristic rock musical The Zinger.
She has a height of 5’0, putting her on the shorter side.