Michael Ciminella Net Worth – Update

What is Michael Ciminella’s net worth?

Michael Ciminella has a net worth of $1 million. He may not be A-list famous like his former wife, stepdaughter, or daughter, but he’s a man who has long been linked to famous people.

That’s because he is the first husband of multi-award winning singer and actress Naomi Judd.

While Naomi is probably most famous for scooping up five Grammy Awards and a whopping nine Country Music Association awards, she also found herself in the limelight for all the wrong reasons.

Ciminella was no gold digger or wannabe celebrity husband, though—he met Naomi when she was just 17 and he was 18.

What would follow was a roller coaster ride of emotions for the young couple, and a divorce in the 1990s after the birth of their daughter.

So, where did Michael Ciminella come from?

And where did he go after the divorce was final? Here’s what we know.

The Origin Story

Michael Ciminella was born in 1945, in Ashland, Kentucky, to Michael Ciminella Senior and Mary Bernadine “Billie” Dalton.

Always a driven youngster with a strong work ethic, Ciminella spent a lot of time working for his father and learning the ropes around business ownership.

He enrolled at Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia to take advantage of the skills he could develop through the school.

As one of the top military academies in the country, FUMA served Ciminella well.

He credited his time away from home—Fork Union Military Academy is a boarding school for grades 7 to 12—with teaching him self-reliance and independence.

He went on to study business back home at Transylvania University in Kentucky.

Following his graduation from Transylvania University in 1967, he enrolled at the University of California.

He holds a BA and an MBA.

Ciminella has worked as a freelance sports producer for NBC Sports, ABC, ESPN, and CBS, as well as in marketing.

He has operated the Ashland Aluminum Company for almost two decades.

Wife

As driven as Michael Ciminella was at his young age, nothing can stand in the way of young love.

Freshly out of high school and about to enroll at Transylvania University, Michael Ciminella had a world of opportunity at his feet.

He had caught attention as an avid sportsman and played baseball for both the Detroit Tigers and the New York Yankees.

He also liked to write music, and it was this passion for songwriting that put him into the orbit of Naomi Judd.

The pair met in 1964 in their shared hometown of Ashland, and bonded over music.

Naomi wasn’t famous yet—in fact, she was just a 17-year-old girl with big dreams, a broken heart, and a baby on the way.

Pregnant with her first child and abandoned by her high school sweetheart Charles Jordan, Naomi was alone.

She and Michael quickly grew close and tied the knot just a few days before Naomi’s 18th birthday.

Michael was 19.

Christina Claire Ciminella was born on May 30, 1964.

The young family stayed in Kentucky, raising Christina there until Michael graduated from university.

The family then moved to Los Angeles, where Michael would enroll at the University of California, and the pair would welcome their daughter, Ashley, in 1968.

Divorce and Remarriage

By the early 80s, Michael and Naomi’s marriage was falling apart.

The pair split up in 1988, with Michael hitting some difficult times following the breakup.

He was arrested several times—for DUI and assault—and served eight years in prison for domestic assault.

Naomi—who up until this point went by her birth name, Diana—changed her surname back to Judd and changed her first name to Naomi.

The change, she would later explain in an interview, was to pay homage to Naomi from the Bible, who moves away from home and raises to daughters alone.

Naomi enrolled at nursing school before being discovered as a singer and finding fame as a country music icon.

She won many awards, but suffered from ill health and mental health disorders.

She died in 2022 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

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Like Father, Like Daughter

Michael and his daughter, famed actress Ashley Judd, appear to have a lot in common. According to Michael, the pair have a strong sense of doing the right thing, equality, and fairness.

Ashley, who has long been a political activist and humanitarian, also points out that her father is a feminist.

When Ashley needed life-saving surgery following an accident in the Democratic Republic of Congo, he flew to South Africa to await her as she was airlifted in for medical treatment. He stayed with her throughout her recovery.

“He has been my rock, companion, resource,” said Ashley, reflecting on that period of her life.

Michael Ciminella married Mollie Whitelaw on November 8, 2010.

The pair live in Louisville, Kentucky.

Net Worth

So, how much is Michael Ciminella worth? He earned most of his wealth from working as a freelance sports producer. Therefore, Michael Ciminella has an estimated net worth of $1 million.

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