Diane Plese is best known as the former wife of Canadian businessman and television personality Robert Herjavec. However, she had an established professional life of her own as an optometrist in Canada. Her name attracted wider attention as Robert became successful in technology and later appeared on television.
Their marriage lasted for more than two decades and included raising three children together. Their eventual separation and divorce also received considerable media attention because of Robert’s public profile.
This article covers Diane Plese’s background, optometry career, relationship with Robert Herjavec, children, divorce settlement, life after marriage, finances, and what is known about her life today.
Who Is Diane Plese?
Diane Plese is a Canadian optometrist whose public recognition largely comes from her marriage to Robert Herjavec. Unlike her former husband, Diane never built a career around television or entertainment. She worked in eye care and generally maintained a low public profile.
Her professional background is an important part of her story because she had her own career before Robert became a widely recognized television personality. She later devoted considerable attention to their family as they raised their children.
Diane has rarely given interviews or discussed her personal affairs publicly. As a result, she remains considerably more private than many people connected to well-known television personalities.
Early Life, Age, and Family Background
Diane Plese was born in Canada and comes from a family with Croatian roots. Several biographical accounts place her birth around 1959 and connect her early life with Toronto, although detailed records about her childhood have not become a major part of her public story.
Her Croatian heritage later became a notable connection between Diane and Robert Herjavec, whose family emigrated from Croatia to Canada when he was a child. Their shared cultural background remained part of their family life.
Diane has kept information about her parents, siblings, and childhood largely outside the media. Most public interest in her background developed only after Robert became famous through business and television.
Education and Career as an Optometrist
Diane chose a professional path in eye care and trained to become an optometrist. Optometry requires specialized education and clinical preparation because practitioners examine patients’ vision, identify common eye problems, prescribe corrective lenses, and provide ongoing vision care.
She went on to work professionally as an optometrist in Canada. Her career gave her an identity independent of Robert Herjavec’s later success in technology, investing, and television. It also reportedly played an important role in how the couple first crossed paths.
Diane’s professional life has received far less coverage than her marriage. She did not use her growing public recognition to become a media personality and remained closely associated with her healthcare profession.
How Diane Plese Met Robert Herjavec
The story of Diane Plese and Robert Herjavec reportedly began through her work as an optometrist. Robert has said that they met when he visited her for an eye appointment. Their professional encounter eventually developed into a personal relationship.
At the time, Robert was still building his career and had not yet become the television personality audiences would later recognize. Their relationship therefore began before the wealth, television appearances, and wider public attention associated with his later years.
The couple also shared Croatian heritage, giving them an additional cultural connection. Their relationship became serious, and after dating, Diane and Robert decided to build a life together through marriage.
Diane Plese and Robert Herjavec’s Marriage
Diane Plese and Robert Herjavec married in 1990. Their wedding took place long before Robert became a familiar face on business television, meaning Diane experienced both the relatively ordinary early period of his career and his later rise to considerable business success.
During their marriage, Robert built successful technology businesses. He founded BRAK Systems, an internet security company that was eventually sold to AT&T Canada in 2000. His career later expanded into investing, cybersecurity, public speaking, and television.
Diane largely remained outside that public world. Their marriage continued for more than two decades, during which they built a family and raised three children together.
Who Is Robert Herjavec?
Robert Herjavec is a Croatian-born Canadian entrepreneur, investor, author, and television personality. His family moved to Canada when he was young, and he later built his career in the technology industry, particularly in internet security and cybersecurity.
He gained wider Canadian recognition as an investor on Dragons’ Den. American audiences later came to know him through ABC’s Shark Tank, where entrepreneurs present businesses to investors in hopes of securing funding and professional support.
His television success made Robert a recognizable public figure and increased interest in his personal life. As his wife for many of those years, Diane consequently became a subject of public curiosity despite avoiding celebrity life herself.
Diane Plese and Robert Herjavec’s Children
Diane Plese and Robert Herjavec had three children during their marriage: two daughters, Caprice and Skye, and a son, Brendan. Their children grew up while their father’s business career expanded and eventually brought considerable wealth and public recognition to the family.
Diane kept much of their children’s upbringing away from entertainment coverage. Rather than turning family life into part of Robert’s television image, the couple generally allowed their children to develop their own interests and educational paths.
As adults, their children have maintained relatively independent lives. Diane’s relationship with them remains personal, but motherhood was clearly an important part of her life throughout her long marriage to Robert.
Family Life and Diane’s Role as a Mother
Family became a central part of Diane’s life after she and Robert welcomed their children. Raising three children while Robert’s companies and television commitments expanded meant their household experienced major changes as his professional responsibilities increased.
Diane remained much less visible than her husband during these years. Robert attended business events, appeared on television, and became increasingly recognizable, while Diane generally avoided creating a public profile around being the wife of a successful entrepreneur.
That difference explains why photographs, interviews, and detailed accounts of Diane’s daily life are relatively uncommon. She appears to have preferred keeping family matters within the family rather than sharing them for publicity.
Separation and Divorce
After more than two decades together, Diane Plese and Robert Herjavec separated in 2014. Robert publicly confirmed their separation in 2015, bringing attention to a marriage that had previously remained relatively private despite his growing television fame.
Their marriage officially ended in divorce in 2016. Because Robert had accumulated substantial wealth during their years together, dividing the couple’s assets became an important part of the legal proceedings. Their long marriage also made the financial issues more complex than a simple division of personal property.
Diane did not turn the divorce into a public media campaign. Much of what became known came through reporting and later Canadian court proceedings concerning their finances.
Diane Plese and Robert Herjavec’s Divorce Settlement
The financial side of Diane and Robert’s divorce received significant attention. A 2017 Ontario Superior Court decision concerning their property and support arrangements provides a more reliable picture than many online estimates about what Diane received from the marriage.
The proceedings dealt with substantial assets, including property and money accumulated during their long relationship. The court also addressed spousal support, reflecting both the length of the marriage and the financial circumstances surrounding Robert’s considerable business success.
Online biographies often reduce the outcome to a single settlement figure, but the actual arrangements were more complicated. What can safely be said is that Diane left the marriage with substantial financial security following the division of marital assets.
Diane Plese’s Life After Divorce and Did She Remarry?
Following the divorce, Diane returned to the private lifestyle she had maintained for most of her adult life. She did not pursue reality television, publish a memoir, or regularly discuss her former marriage in interviews. Public attention instead remained largely focused on Robert’s continuing career.
There is also no widely documented public record showing that Diane remarried after her divorce from Robert. Because she does not routinely share her personal relationships with the media, her private life should not be confused with the many unsupported claims found on celebrity biography websites.
Robert later married his Dancing with the Stars partner Kym Johnson in 2016 and started another chapter of his family life.
Conclusion
Diane Plese’s story extends beyond simply being Robert Herjavec’s former wife. She trained and worked as an optometrist, married Robert before his rise to television fame, and spent more than two decades building a family with him while his business career developed.
Together, Diane and Robert raised three children before separating in 2014 and eventually divorcing in 2016. Their financial arrangements attracted attention because of Robert’s considerable wealth, but Diane herself continued to avoid becoming a public personality.
Her decision to maintain privacy has continued after the divorce. While Robert remains highly visible through business and television, Diane has largely chosen a life away from media attention.
(FAQs)
FAQs About Diane Plese
Who is Diane Plese?
Diane Plese is a Canadian optometrist best known as the former wife of businessman and Shark Tank investor Robert Herjavec. She built her own career in eye care and has generally preferred a private life.
What does Diane Plese do for a living?
Diane Plese trained and worked as an optometrist in Canada. Her professional career focused on eye care and vision health. She maintained her own professional identity even as Robert Herjavec became successful in business and television.
How did Diane Plese meet Robert Herjavec?
Diane reportedly met Robert Herjavec when he visited her for an eye appointment. Their first professional meeting eventually developed into a romantic relationship, and the couple later married in 1990 after spending time together.
How many children does Diane Plese have?
Diane Plese has three children with Robert Herjavec: daughters Caprice and Skye and son Brendan. She spent many years focused on their family while Robert developed his businesses and later became a television personality.
When did Diane Plese and Robert Herjavec divorce?
Diane and Robert separated in 2014 after more than two decades of marriage. Their separation became public in 2015, and their divorce was finalized in 2016, bringing their long marriage to an end.
Did Diane Plese remarry after divorcing Robert Herjavec?
There is no widely documented information showing that Diane Plese remarried after her divorce from Robert Herjavec. She has kept her relationships and personal life away from public attention since the marriage ended.
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