Kathleen Balgley is the mother of American actress and model Emily Ratajkowski. Her husband’s name is John David “J.D.” Ratajkowski.

Her daughter Emily is known for appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated swimsuit issues in 2014 and 2015. Besides, she has portrayed in movies and TV series like Gone Girl, I Feel Pretty, Welcome Home, The Spoils Before Dying, Ziwe, etc.

Kathleen is an Israeli-born American lecturer, writer, and art curator.

Kathleen Balgley Wiki and Age

She was born in 1952 in Israel and spent her childhood in her birth nation. She is 70 years old and holds both Israeli and American nationality.

The celebrity mother was born to an Belarusian father and Irish mother in Israel so, she is of Belarusian-Israeli-Irish descent. She was raised in a Jewish family.

Kathleen Balgley and her husband John David Ratajkowski

Balgley later moved to the United States and graduated with Bachelor’s degree from the University of California, San Diego.

Thereafter, she completed her Ph.D. in Literature at the University of California. After graduation, she won a Fulbright scholarship to live and teach American literature in Poland from 1987 to 1988.

Kathleen then returned to America and started teaching in UCLA Writing Programs; as a tenured Associate Professor of English at California State University; and at two community colleges.

Kathleen’s Memoir- Letters To My Father

She has written a memoir that begins when she discovered her father’s hidden Jewish identity. Her father was born in Brest, Belarus.

She mentioned in the book how she was prohibited from speaking of it in or outside the family.

Kathleen then wanted to know more about the history and her Jewish identity. Her father later visited her after he got the letter and took her touring the country to fix the relationship with her.

Who is Kathleen Balgley’s Husband?

Kathleen is married to her husband John David Ratajkowski, who is also a university lecturer like her.

John is a painter and art lecturer who taught at San Dieguito Academy. He was born in 1946 to a Polish father and Irish mother.

As a painter, he has done in over 25 exhibitions in the US and Europe including in Ireland, Poland, England, Spain, etc.

Unfortunately, we don have any information about how the couple met. They got married in the late 1990s in San Diego after dating for some time. As per some sources, they had an on-and-off kind of relationship and married after Kathleen became pregnant with their daughter.

They lived in London for some time where they became the parents of their daughter Emily Ratajkowski on June 7, 1991.

Kathleen Balgley with her husband John David Ratajkowski and their daughter Emily Ratajkowski
Source: Yahoo Finance

Emily talked about her parents’ relationship in her book My Body and wrote that she was the glue that held them together.

“I knew that my parents had been on again, off again for years before my mother became pregnant with me and they decided to get married. … I understood that even before I was born my existence was the essential glue of their relationship.”

The couple then returned back to the US and settled in Encinitas near San Diego, California.

Her only Child Emily Ratajkowski

Emily Ratajkowski was born Emily O’Hara Ratajkowski on June 7, 1991, in Westminster, London, to Kathleen Balgley and John David Ratajkowski. She doesn’t have any siblings.

She grew up in Encinitas near San Diego, California, and attended UCLA but dropped out to continue her modeling career.

Emily is a Polish-Israeli but also has English, Irish, and German ancestry.

Kathleen Balgley and her daughter Emily Ratajkowski

She started her modeling career at the age of 14 as she signed a deal with Ford Models. After appearing in a few short films, she got a role in Nickelodeon’s iCarly in 2009.

Ratajkowski has modeled for various agencies and also walked in various fashion shows. Moreover, she has also started in movies like Gone Girl, I Feel Pretty, and Welcome Home, etc.

She has also appeared in some TV shows and music videos.

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Is Emily Ratajkowski Married?

Emily was married to actor and producer Sebastian Bear-McClard but she filed for divorce from him in July 2022.

She first began dating him in early 2018 and got married on February 23, 2018, after dating for some weeks. They tied the knot in a New York City courthouse wedding.

Kathleen Balgley’s daughter Emily with her ex-husband Sebastian Bear-McClard
Source: New York Post

After the marriage, Emily and Sebastian lived in the NoHo neighborhood of Manhattan and in Los Angeles.

The pair welcomed their first child Sylvester Apollo Bear on March 8, 2021. However, after a year of the birth of their son, Emily filed for divorce from her husband.

The model, author, and swimwear founder ended her 4 years marriage with Bear-McClard due to his infidelity.

Prior, Ratajkowski dated musician Jeff Magid from December 2014 to early 2018.

Kathleen Balgley’s Net worth in 2022

As a lecturer, Kathleen Balgley earns around $70,000 a year. She has been working as a professor since the 1980s and might have earned a net worth of $1 Million.

Kathleen also owns two homes together with her husband: one in Sant Joan, Mallorca and another in Bantry, West Cork, Ireland.

Her daughter Emily is a model, actress, and businesswoman who founded the swimwear brand Inamorata. As of 2022, she has a net worth of $8 Million.

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