Dave Portnoy's Love Life Got Even Messier After His Marriage Ended
Dave Portnoy was married to Renee Portnoy, but a reported infidelity by the Barstool founder led to their eventual divorce. The couple were engaged in 2008, tied the knot the following year in 2009, and were married until 2017. While together, Renee was given the moniker "The First Lady of Barstool" by fans of the site, but she also displayed a great love for animals during and after their split. Besides being an avid equestrian, Renee dedicated a lot of time to animal shelters. "I'm trying to rescue this little fellow from a high kill shelter in NM. If everything works out, I'll fly back to Boston with him on Friday," Renee tweeted in 2019 alongside a snap of a dog in a rescue shelter.
The former couple appeared to remain on amicable terms even after their break up. Renee kept Dave's last name and had kind words for him when she was interviewed for a Barstool YouTube documentary released in 2020. "He is relentless, but in the best way possible," Renee said about her ex. "Dave's also the most loyal guy you'll ever meet. If you're in Dave's circle he would do anything, anything, anything for you" she added.
Details about the dissolution of their marriage are sparse, but Dave was romantically linked to another woman, Jordyn Hamilton, in 2017. That is believed to have caused the Portnoys to divorce, per The U.S. Sun. Dave's relationship with Hamilton came to a disastrous end after she allegedly cheated on him.
He publicly attacked his ex-girlfriend
Dave Portnoy made headlines in 2017 when he claimed that Jordyn Hamilton — the woman he reportedly cheated on Renee Portnoy with — cheated on him with a SoulCycle instructor. In January of that year, Portnoy took shots at Hamilton. "@jhammmmmy for the record I don't think you look like a 'fat baby blow up doll'. There I said it," he tweeted at the time. A couple months later, Portnoy went scorched earth on his former girlfriend in a series of incendiary tweets directed both at Hamilton and SoulCycle. "Remember when I wrote the blog defending @jhammmmmy when nobody else would. I take it all back," he tweeted in March 2017. In a subsequent tweet the same month, the man nicknamed El Presidente referred to Hamilton as a "trashbag."
He did not handle the news of Hamilton's apparent cheating with grace. A tweetstorm from Portnoy ensued as he organized a day at Barstool focused on airing grievances with both Hamilton and SoulCycle. "Today is Grudgement Day. ... The place is at a fever pitch," Barstool wrote in March 2017. Portnoy tweeted out an internal memo sent to SoulCycle employees in New York cautioning them about Barstool employees potentially entering their gym. "Best way to avoid calling 911? Don't have your instructors f*** the girlfriend of head of major media company," Portnoy tweeted in reference to the memo. He even made "CuckCycle" tees to sell on Barstool's website.
The blow-up with Hamilton was not the only public relationship mishap Portnoy faced after his divorce.
Dave Portnoy's sextape leak
A couple years after Dave Portnoy's messy public break up with the woman he allegedly cheated on his ex-wife Renee Portnoy with — the Barstool honcho was once again mired in controversy when a sextape of his leaked in 2021. A clip of Dave and Instagram model Sydney Raines involved in a sexual act hit social media. Dave issued a statement in a video posted to Twitter at the time which mostly addressed how the leaked footage affected Penn National Gaming's stock. "A stock is down because somebody has consensual sex? Are you f****** kidding me," Dave said. "I would jump on this dip and I would f*** it. No pun intended," he playfully added.
Raines also released a statement once the footage circulated. Fortunately, she and Dave remained on good terms. "Some might not approve of the video content but it was entirely consensual and it's unfortunate that it is no longer private, but we are still friends with no animosity between us," Raines wrote on Instagram in 2021.
While Dave made controversial headlines following his divorce, Renee was able to find romance herself and stay out of the press. Renee has occasionally shared snaps of her beau on Instagram. She posted a photo of the couple exchanging a kiss in 2021 and a trio of pics in a 2022 post where they posed on a beach in dapper formal wear.