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Billionaire New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft sealed the deal with his longtime girlfriend Dana Blumberg in a super-secret surprise wedding ceremony in New York City, as Elton John serenaded the newlyweds.
Kraft, 81, said ‘I do’ to ophthalmologist Dana Blumberg, 47, on Friday night at what guests were told was a ‘Kickoff and a Touchdown Party’.
The couple, who began dating in 2019, hired the lower Manhattan Hall des Lumières and told 250 friends and family members to dress festively, The New York Post reported.
The invitees – among them Jon Bon Jovi, country singer Kenny Chesney, film tycoon Ari Emanuel and Oscar-nominated film producer Brian Grazer – did not know the pair would wed.
Tom Brady, former Patriots quarterback, turned up without his wife Gisele Bundchen, amid rumors of an impending divorce.
Blumberg donned an ivory Naeem Khan wedding dress for the ceremony. According to Page Six, she arrived incognito at the venue in an Elie Saab jump suit.
Kraft meanwhile could be seen in his usual blue sport jacket and his RKK Air Force 1 sneakers. For the dinner, Kraft changed his outerwear to an Armani dinner blazer.
Blumberg donned an ivory Naeem Khan wedding dress for the ceremony. According to Page Six, she arrived incognito at the venue in an Elie Saab jump suit
Kraft with former Patriots stars including iconic quarterback Tom Brady (back center)
Elton John (center), Ed Sheeran (right) and Meek Mill (left) performed at the show
The couple hired out the Hall des Lumieres in lower Manhattan for the party, with guests unaware it was to be a wedding
Robert Kraft, 81, and his girlfriend Dana Blumberg, 47, wed on Friday night in Manhattan
Sources told The Post that guests were shown a 10-minute video of the couple, before they were introduced to the crowd by the voice of NFL commentator Al Michaels as husband and wife.
The pair had coordinated especially with Elton John, after he volunteered in July to sing at their wedding. They gave him three weeks’ notice, and he found a spare date.
The Rocketman kicked off his hour-long performance with ‘Circle of Life,’ followed by ‘Tiny Dancer,’ ‘Philadelphia Freedom,’ ‘Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me,’ ‘Can You Feel the Love Tonight,’ and more, the Post reported.
He also performed ‘Candle in the Wind’, as a duet with Ed Sheeran.
Kraft and Blumberg had a first dance as Sheeran played an acoustic number.
Rapper Meek Mill performed, and then Grandmaster Flash took to the turntables and DJ’d.
‘They wanted to get in a zone of sharing happiness with one another, and bringing people together,’ a friend of the couple told the paper.
The couple’s engagement was first announced in March 2022 by fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger.
Hilfiger made the announcement at an event in Palm Beach, Florida, telling a crowd of people that his ‘good friend Bob Kraft got engaged to Dr. Dana Blumberg,’ according to Page Six.
Kraft and Blumberg watching Serena Williams’ play her final game in a major tournament at the US Open in September
Blumberg, 48, a leading New York City ophthalmologist, had been dating Kraft for three years before he popped the question with a ’10-carat diamond.’
Kraft knew Blumberg as a friend for several years before they started dating. The pair posed for photos together at a 2017 event for the Elton John AIDS Foundation, however they are not thought to have begun dating until 2019.
Blumberg has stayed noticeably private throughout their relationship – doing her best to keep a low profile by not using any social media.
She is a specialist in glaucoma and is based at New York-Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia.
Blumberg graduated from Brown University for her BA and then achieved her medical degree in May 2000 from the Saint Louis University School of Medicine in Missouri, according to the Department of Health.
She went on to complete her residency in 2004 at Case Western Reserve in Cleveland, Ohio, before heading to Wilmer Eye Institute of Johns Hopkins University in Maryland for her fellowship.
Records also show that she practiced medicine in North Carolina from 2007 to 2011, before she moved to New York.
Over the years, she has won many awards for her work, including the 2009 American Glaucoma Society’s Clinician Scientist Award and the Wilmer Eye Institute Teaching Award in 2006. She also made New York Time’s Super Doctor Rising Stars list in 2013.
Kraft was previously married to his college sweetheart and philanthropist Myra Kraft.
She died in 2011 from ovarian cancer at the age of 68 in their home in Brookline, Massachusetts. Following her death, the Patriots players wore patches with her initials, MHK, on their jerseys throughout the following season.
Just before his wedding to Blumberg, Kraft donated $50 million to Massachusetts General Hospital, the largest donation the medical facility has ever received.
He told WCVB in an interview that he has been interested in medical affordability since his wife’s death.
Kraft said: ‘When my beloved Myra got sick about 12 years ago, I saw the great care she got. We have the greatest hospitals in the world right here in Massachusetts.’
The billionaire added: ‘But then I started thinking, what if I was someone of modest means or a person of color, did I have the same access? Diversity equity, inclusion, that’s a big area today that isn’t being serviced properly.’
Myra served as the president of the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation. She married Kraft in 1963, just before her senior year at Brandeis University, where she graduated with a history degree.
The couple had four children together, Jonathan, Daniel, Joshua and David.
Donald Trump, Melania Trump, Myra Kraft and Robert Kraft pictured together at Mar-a-Lago in February 2011
Robert and Myra Kraft pictured on the sidelines of a Patriots game in 2002
Tom Brady pictured wearing the MHK patch on his jersey in 2011 as he celebrates with convicted murderer Aaron Hernandez
In one of his first interviews since Myra’s death, Kraft told Boston.com: ‘I sort of feel robbed. I try to stay very busy, I basically work seven days a week. I try to do new things, to meet new people.’
He refused at the time to comment on his then-girlfriend, Ricki Noel Lander, then 32. The Boston.com piece mentions that many close to Kraft credited Lander with bringing him out of depression following his wife’s death.
Jonathan Kraft told the website: ‘You hear about couples married for 50 years, whose lives were totally intertwined, and when one loses their partner, the other doesn’t want to live.’
While ex-president Donald Trump said: ‘They had an amazing marriage, and Bob was devastated when she died. He suffered greatly for a year, and he still suffers. But at some point, life has to go on, and it’s going on for Bob.’
Lander and Kraft began dating in 2012 and broke up in 2018, the same year that Lander gave birth. Despite rumors, Kraft was adamant that he was not the father of her child.
Kraft and former girlfriend Ricki Noel Lander pictured together prior to Super Bowl LIII at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium
Kraft and Lander attend ‘Heavenly Bodies: Fashion & the Catholic Imagination,’ the 2018 Costume Institute Benefit at Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City
Their break-up came just months before Kraft was charged in Jupiter, Florida, after leaving a rub and tug massage parlor.
Kraft was allegedly caught soliciting prostitutes at a Florida massage parlor through the use of hidden cameras, authorities said in February 2019.
Jupiter Police said they surveilled the Orchids of Asia Day Spa for six months as part of a sting operation, watching on as more than 1,500 men frequented the premises for sexual purposes.
Evidence of the sordid on-goings was gathered through the use of body cams, and hidden cameras placed both inside and outside the Spa.
Police claimed to have obtained video evidence of Kraft paying twice for sex through the use of the concealed cameras.
In September 2020, all charges against Kraft were dropped due to insufficient evidence.
People mill around in front of the Orchids of Asia Day Spa. Police charging documents allege the business provided ‘rub and tug’ services
A sign is posted outside of Orchids of Asia Day Spa, Friday, February 22,2019 in Florida. Jupiter police have charged New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft with misdemeanor solicitation of prostitution. Jupiter Police Chief Daniel Kerr said Friday, that he was shocked to learn Kraft, who is worth $6 billion, was paying for sex inside a strip-mall massage parlor. The charges against Kraft were later dropped
Orchids of Asia Day Spa is pictured after New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft was charged with allegedly soliciting for sex on February 22, 2019 in Jupiter, Florida. That misdemeanor count was later dropped
The Orchids of Asia Day Spa’s owner, 58-year-old Hua Zhang, was arrested and charged with 26 counts of procuring prostitution. Kraft allegedly engaged in two criminal acts at the spa
A major talking point about Kraft’s wedding was the presence of his iconic quarterback Tom Brady sans his supermodel wife Gisele.
The couple has been dogged with rumors for weeks now that their marriage is on the rocks and that the pair are headed for divorce court.
Sources told DailyMail.com exclusively earlier this month that the couple’s problems had nothing to do with football, specifically Brady’s u-turn on retirement this past Spring. Our source said that the Brazilian supermodel wouldn’t care if he decided to play until he was in his 50s.
Tom Brady, who won the Super Bowl with Kraft’s team, arrived at the wedding solo amid rumors of a divorce from his wife Gisele Bundchen. Brady is pictured on October 9 playing for his current team, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
In a September interview with Elle magazine, Bündchen listed the sacrifices that she made for her husband’s football career, including moving to Boston
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