Bridget Rooney is an American actress, socialite, and heiress.
She is the aunt of famous actresses Kate Mara and Rooney Mara. However, Bridget has an impressive career of her own.
She only delved into acting in one movie — Zombie or not Zombie. But she retired as an actress soon after.
Now, she is active as a socialite and businesswoman who has partnered with her husband, Bill Koch.
Here is all we know about her, her husband, and her children.
Bridget Rooney’s biography
Bridget was born in California, USA, on April 26, 1962. Thanks to her affluent parents, she enjoyed an absurdly opulent upbringing.
Timothy James Rooney, her father, is the owner of Yonkers Raceway and the managing director of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Timothy reportedly also works as an actor.
Bridget’s mother, June Marraccini, is an actress like her father. She has two brothers and three sisters — Thomas Joseph Rooney and Timothy James Rooney Jr. are her brothers, whereas Cara Rooney, Margaret Galterio, and Kathleen Mara are her sisters.
The Rooney family is very strong and affluent, all thanks to Bridget’s grandfather — Arthur Joseph Rooney. Arthur was the owner and founder of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
He was also known as “The Chief,” and was the owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1933 until his passing in August 1988. Since then, the NFL team has been handed down in the family.
Talking about Bridget, she has dabbled in a variety of occupations. As said before, in the 2011 movie Zombie or Not Zombie, she made her acting debut.
She eventually retired, though, and stopped pursuing an acting career. Given her upbringing in a wealthy family, Bridget is accustomed to enjoying an opulent lifestyle.
She has thus concentrated mostly on charitable activity. She participates in a variety of charities and non-profits.
For instance, she and her husband founded the Palm Beach, Florida-based Oxbridge Academy in 2011. Many famous children attend Oxbridge Academy, a private school, including Barron Trump, the son of former US President Donald Trump.
Bridget is a well-known socialite as well. She has organized and attended several chic upper-class gatherings and parties as a result.
Due to this, Bridget has also received a lot of media attention, which has aided her in spreading the word about her charitable endeavors and maintaining her family’s heritage.
Bridget Rooney’s husband and children
Bridget is currently married to her husband, Bill. Despite widespread criticism for the couple’s 22-year age difference, Bill and Bridget were able to maintain their union and disprove all the doubters.
In a grandiose wedding ceremony held in Colorado in 2005, Bridget exchanged vows with her husband.
The couple has been blissfully wed for the past 18 years. Bill frequently makes news of the pricey items he bought for his wife.
For instance, Bill gifted Briget a 31-carat yellow diamond by François Graff before their wedding. Similarly, he gave his wife a pricey 1941 picture of three seminude women.
Bridget Rooney with her husband, Bill Koch. (Source: Twitter)
The entrepreneur spent an additional $240,000 on a pair of two-foot-tall silver centerpieces created in 1860 by Queen Victoria’s silversmiths. All in all, Bridget’s husband knows how to give her gifts.
The pair only have one daughter, Kaitlin Koch. Kaitlin was born in 2006, a year after her parents’ marriage.
It is reported that she is a student at Oxbridge Academy. She has performed at the Come Fly With Me! in 2018 and is a champion ice skater.
In addition, Bridget has five stepchildren from Bill’s previous relationships. Not only is Bridget a loving mother to her own children, but she also gets along well with her stepchildren.
Bridget Rooney’s previous relationships
In 1996, Bridget had a brief relationship with actor and director Kevin Costner. They began dating two years after Costner’s divorce from Cindy Silva.
People frequently saw Bridget and Kevin together at several red-carpet events and glitzy parties as a result of their publicized relationship. Soon, Bridget announced that she was pregnant.
She said, “I’m 110 percent sure who the father is. I’m just enjoying my pregnancy.”
Their son, Liam Timothy Costner, was born to her in 1996. However, Kevin and Bridget had a disagreement after Liam was born.
At first, Kevin denied being Liam’s father. But the DNA test showed that Liam was really his child — after which he accepted his son.
Bridget and Kevin split up not long after Liam was born.
Bill Koch’s biography
American billionaire businessman, sailor, and collector Bill was born William Ingraham Koch. He is best known for his 1992 win when his yacht took home the America’s Cup trophy.
Bill is one of the billionaires in America whose net worth from oil and other interests amounted to over $1.8 billion in 2019, according to Forbes.
In Culver, Indiana, Koch attended Culver Military Academy. He earned chemical engineering bachelor’s, master’s, and Ph.D. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
He has three brothers — twin David Koch, Frederick R. Koch, and Charles Koch. However, the brothers do not have a good relationship.
Bill and his brother, Frederick, inherited the family business as they inherited equity in Koch Industries. When they sold the shares to their brothers Charles and David in 1983, they received $800 million.
Legal cases between Charles and David lasted for around 20 years. In an effort to take over the business, Bill and his eldest brother, Frederick, at one time allied with J. Howard Marshall III, J. Howard Marshall II’s eldest son, against Charles and David.
Bill secured a settlement in 2001 after accusing the firm of stealing oil from federal and Native American lands. All legal disputes between the brothers were resolved by this agreement.
It was reported that Koch Industries reached a $25 million settlement, with Bill receiving a third of the money as compensation for filing the lawsuit.
After leaving Koch Industries, Bill founded and served as president of the West Palm Beach, Florida-based Oxbow Group, an energy development holding company. Restore Our Future, Inc., the “SuperPAC” assisting Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, received a $750,000 donation from Oxbow in 2011.
Charles Middleton filed an IRS whistleblower complaint against Oxbow Carbon LLC in October 2016, alleging that the company had avoided paying taxes on earnings from the sale of petroleum coke, a byproduct of oil refining.
Bill is co-chair of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, an organization established to oppose the Cape Wind proposal to build a 130-turbine offshore wind farm. He gave the alliance directly $500,000 in 2005, and he spent more than $1 million on lobbying attempts to stop the project.
Apart from businesses, Bill is an avid collector of wine and art. He has brought many high-profile legal actions against producers of fake wine, including one against Hardy Rodenstock for the selling of wine that was allegedly owned by Thomas Jefferson.
Rudy Kurniawan and the auction business Acker, Merrall & Condit, through which Bill bought Kurniawan’s wine, were also sued by Bill. In 2009, Koch sued Renee Angove, and in July 2014, it was announced that a $3 million settlement had been reached.
Model ships, vintage nautical equipment, paintings of ships and seascapes, and model ships are all part of Bill’s collection of maritime artifacts. His collections, including the America 3 and the boat it bested, Il Moro di Venezia, were on display in 2005 at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
ncG1vNJzZmifnJa6sMHRm6yfnl6YvK57wJyrq52jqHyjvsidnp6sXae8sLrEsmShraOXrq%2Bwjg%3D%3D