Who is Eliot Spitzer’s wife Roxana Girand? The real estate mogul began dating the former NYC governor after his multiple scandals and quietly married the ‘luv-guv’ in 2020

So, who exactly is Girand – the woman who finally accepted Spitzer, warts and all? Here’s what you need to know about her.

She’s had to overlook Spitzer’s messy sex scandals

At the time, his wife Silda famously chose to stick by his side, per Politico, but the couple finally parted ways in 2013. According to US media, towards the end of his marriage, Spitzer was also having an affair with Lis Smith, who had worked on his failed bid for city comptroller in 2013.

Then, in 2016, Spitzer was involved in yet another scandal. This time, he claimed he was being blackmailed by a Russian woman named Svetlana Travis Zakharova who alleged he had attacked her during a night at the Plaza Hotel. US media reported that the two had been having an affair and that she’d called 911 from the hotel after he’d threatened to cut ties with her. Lis Smith called off the relationship when Spitzer told her about the supposed blackmail attempt.

With all of that relationship baggage, all eyes were on the “luv-guv” and Girand when their relationship went public in September 2017.

She married Spitzer in a secret wedding

In 2019, representatives for the couple confirmed to US tabloid PageSix that they were engaged and they were planning a big New York bash to celebrate their nuptials. However the Covid-19 pandemic interrupted their plans and, according to the same outlet, they sent an email to friends saying the big 2020 party would be cancelled because of the virus. Per the email, the couple said they instead intended to get married later in a “small, family-only event.”

At the end of July, Spitzer confirmed that he and Girand had indeed married quietly in 2020. He told PageSix that their big wedding was supposed to be on April 4 2020 and they kept the date, but made it an intimate ceremony, getting hitched at his Columbia County home near Millbrook.

They’ve bought luxury apartments

In early 2020 it was revealed that the couple had bought two adjacent apartments in a building on New York’s Upper East Side. According to The Real Deal real estate news site, Girand already owned one apartment in the ritzy Concorde building on 65th Street and Spitzer bought two adjoining apartments valued at US$4.37 million in an off-market deal. Spitzer bought the apartments under his name; they came with building amenities including valet parking, a gym, pool, roof deck and children’s playroom.

She’s a property queen

Girand is the founder and president of Sebastian Capital, a boutique real estate firm that specialises in helping Latin America based families and investors with real estate assets in the US, per the company website. According to the site, over 3.5 million sq ft of commercial and residential real estate in New Jersey, Westchester and New York City is managed by Sebastian Capital.

She promotes female empowerment

In an interview with Westchester magazine, Girand says she focuses on ensuring other women are also empowered in the real estate world, adding that her office has an 80 per cent female workforce. “I love to see up-and-coming women succeed in the business”, she told the magazine. Per the publication, Girand was born in New York but grew up in Colombia and Spain and speak English, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian fluently.

She once stopped a big party at Elizabeth Taylor’s former home

Back in 2018, Girand made headlines after it was reported that she personally shut down a party held at one of the properties her company oversees. According to US media, jeweller Lisa Linhardt was launching her new line at Elizabeth Taylor’s former town house on West 56th Street, and when Girand was told that the party had “several hundred people” in attendance, she phoned Linhardt personally and instructed her to end the party early. According to the publication, the party was shut down and all 400 guests asked to leave the venue.