The Truth About Pauly D's Baby Mama, Amanda Markert
If you take one look at Pauly D Delvecchio's Instagram, it's not clear that the Jersey Shore star and DJ is a dad — but he is. The reality TV star has a 6-year-old daughter named Amabella, who may not show up on his Insta very often — possibly even less than photos of Pauly D without hair gel — so it makes sense if the news is a surprise.
Pauly D's daughter was born to a woman named Amanda Markert, who had a one-night stand with Delvecchio in Las Vegas, Heavy reports. Pauly D was already famous (or even notorious) for his one-night hookup antics on Jersey Shore when Amabella was conceived, but Markert had yet to be thrust into the spotlight.
Fast forward to 2019, and we know a few more details about Amanda Markert, the woman who made Pauly D a dad.
Amanda Markert was once arrested for assaulting her other baby daddy
With Amabella's birth, Pauly D became a father for the first time, but his baby mama Amanda Markert, who once worked as a Hooters waitress, already had a kid from a previous relationship. According to TMZ, Markert actually assaulted the father of her first child when she came home after a night out drinking with her friends.
TMZ says the baby's father, Lance Gerbino, said Markert was holding their son when she started "going crazy" and hitting him in the face with her fists. Photos show Gerbino was left with cuts in his mouth and on the side of his face after the alleged attack.
Markert reportedly turned herself in to police following the attack on Gerbino, but that wouldn't be the end of her battles with her baby daddies.
Amanda Markert fought Pauly D for custody of their daughter
As the mother of Pauly D's daughter, Amanda Markert is no stranger to drama. It should be no surprise, then, that Markert and Pauly D were involved in a brutal custody battle over their daughter, Amabella.
Jezebel reported in 2013 that things turned "ugly" and "sexist" when Pauly D filed for full custody of Amabella after he found out she had been born. Jezebel shared that Pauly D thought Markert would be an "unfit" mother because she formerly worked at Hooters. Somehow Pauly D felt that his career as "that guy with the hair from Jersey Shore" was somehow a respectable one, but okay.
The plot thickens, though, because TMZ uncovered info that Pauly D tried to get Markert to have an abortion when she was pregnant with Amabella. Markert reportedly wanted to sell some incriminating text messages from Pauly D that asked her to terminate the pregnancy, though she obviously did not cooperate.
The deets on the one night stand
We highly doubt Amanda Markert will ever forget her one night stand with Pauly D since their daughter Amabella was conceived during the infamous hookup. How did the former Jersey Hooters waitress wind up smooshing the reality star? Here's what we know.
The two met at a Rehab pool party at the Hard Rock Hotel in Vegas in the summer of 2012 (per TMZ). The tab published photos of Markert prancing around in a bikini "double-fisting" drinks that night while DJ Pauly D was on the job spinning tracks with his heavily gelled hair on point. It should be noted that Markert had a leg up on the other girls when it came to a chance meeting with the reality star that night, since she was "good friends" with a girl named Loren who was dating Pauly D's security guard at the time (via Hollywood Life). The same source dished that the one night stand in Vegas was "the only time they've ever been together" and added that Markert left town the next morning.
Pauly D may not have been fully aware of what he was getting himself into with this DTF chick that night though, as "When it came down to the actual hookup, she (Markert) told Pauly she was on birth control" (per Hollywood Life).
Maybe he should've asked to see proof? You know — gym, tan, verify the birth control.
Pauly D accused Amanda Markert of exploiting their baby
Before Pauly D even got to meet his daughter for the first time, a TMZ reporter caught him in an airport and asked if he thought Amanda Markert was "trying to using [Amabella] for fame and fortune." His blunt response? "100 percent, unfortunately. Yeah, that's what happens. What are you gonna do?" He also added that he hoped to meet his daughter sometime the next week.
The pair's custody war was all over the tabloids at the time (despite the fact that Markert publicly denied claims that Pauly D didn't have access to the tot). "This is getting out of hand, you've had my number since day 1," Markert tweeted (via E!), adding, "Come bond with her any day, any time you and your family want," she said.
The former Hooters waitress definitely had no problem standing up for herself when the two were duking it out. Markert even went as far as to share on Twitter that the only money she ever got from Pauly D during her pregnancy was a check to pay for an abortion, which she instead used for prenatal care (via Ashley's Reality Roundup). In a typed out Twitter receipt, Markert said the dough was enough to cover, "ONE ultrasound, Blood work, and proof of pregnancy. I paid for 9 months of doctors appointments following," Markert added (per the same source).
So much for all that "fortune" she was allegedly getting.
Amanda Markert told another guy he was her baby daddy
Amanda Markert is either bad at math or had multiple partners around the same time since it apparently took a DNA paternity test to confirm that Pauly D was Amabella's biological father. In October 2013, Radar Online revealed that "Donn Barbitta, who lived with Amanda Markert in Egg Harbor, N.J. until this week, believed five-month-old Amabella was his offspring." The tab said Barbitta "learned of the ultimate deception when the news of the paternity broke" and added that he ended his relationship with Markert pretty much right after. "He's been humiliated," the Radar Online source said.
There's no doubt that the poor guy was hurt by the whole scandal. His Facebook page was said to be "littered with images" of him in daddy mode, holding the child before he found out she wasn't his (per the same source).
But Markert wasn't left to do the job alone for long once Barbitta removed himself from the equation. E! News revealed that the Jersey Shore star was "hoping to develop" a relationship with his baby mama right after the scandal broke. "[He] wasn't exactly planning for it to happen this way," the same source revealed, "but God works in mysterious ways." That statement was before it came out that he was fighting for sole custody of the tot, but we can still give him props for stepping up to the plate as soon as he found out the shocking news.
Amabella is a mini DJ Pauly D in the making
It may have taken a few years, but it looks like things finally cooled down between Amanda Markert and Pauly D. You may recall, Pauly D wasn't allowed to see Amabella on her first birthday when he and Markert were knee-deep in a custody war. However, Markert seems to be good with her baby daddy making up for lost time with the tot, as of this writing.
"She's 4 years old. She's my life. She's my princess," Pauly D said in the 2018 interview with People. The Jersey Shore star is apparently rubbing off on his little mini-me too. "She wants to be a DJ — I got her a DJ room. She's scratching records already," the reality star told the same publication, adding, "She's so funny. She just wants to follow me around and do every single thing that I do."
Little Amabella is apparently well aware that her daddy is different than the other dad's these days (and we're not referring to his six-inch hairstyle either). "She knows I'm a DJ, she knows I have these huge crowds, and I am a big influence and she knows what an influence is, she calls me famous when I go to the airport ... people yell my name and she sees that," Pauly D told Us Weekly in May 2019.