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The estranged wife of controversial former Republican congressman Madison Cawthorn is engaged to be married again, just over a year after the conservative announced they were splitting.
Cristina Bayardelle, 29, announced the good news in an Instagram post on Friday. ‘I thought I knew what love was before I met you. Never felt more grateful and blessed. Thanking God for bringing us together,’ she wrote.
The pair posted a video showing the proposal at the top of the Willis Tower in Chicago set to All of Me by John Legend.
According to social media posts, the Florida-native has been dating Leonardo Jacovas, an underwear model, since March 2022. He first appeared on Bayardelle’s popular Instagram page in September.
This will be the second walk down the aisle for Bayardelle who married Cawthorn first in a civil ceremony in December 2020, followed by a more elaborate ceremony in April 2021.
Online records show that Cawthorn and Bayardelle are not divorced. North Carolina law dictates that couples must be separated for a year before divorcing. The Asheville Citizen Times reported in January that there is no record of the couple being separated.
Cristina Bayardelle and Leonardo Jacovas got engaged on the 103rd floor of the Willis Tower in Chicago
Cristina Bayardelle, 29, announced the good news in an Instagram post on Friday. ‘I thought I knew what love was before I met you. Never felt more grateful and blessed. Thanking God for bringing us together’
Hours after announcing her engagement, Bayardelle posted a series of photos showing the couple on vacation in Chicago. ‘On cloud 9,’ she captioned the pictures
Hours after announcing her engagement, Bayardelle posted a series of photos showing the couple on vacation in Chicago. ‘On cloud 9,’ she captioned the pictures.
According to his various social media posts, Jacovas is a native of Brazil and now lives in Miami. He is an underwear and fitness model and CrossFit employee.
Previously, he was the assistant coach of the Florida National University’s men’s soccer team. He studied business administration at the school.
Like his fiancée, Jacovas is a competitive CrossFit athlete. ‘I like to read, I have the goal of reading more than 10 books a year. I speak Portuguese, English, and Spanish,’ he writes on his LinkedIn page.
Jacovas says that he is a regular at Sunday mass at the Lagohina Miami Church and even preps the space for each service.
‘I`m a determined and focused person, that whenever I have a goal in my mind, I will do everything I can to achieve,’ he adds.
At the time she split from Cawthorn, Bayardelle admitted that being married to America’s youngest Congress member was ‘strenuous’ and the transition into the spotlight had ‘unexpected’ difficulties.
At the time she split from Cawthorn, Bayardelle admitted that being married to America’s youngest Congress member was ‘strenuous’ and the transition into the spotlight had ‘unexpected’ difficulties
Bayadelle spoke highly of Cawthorn at the time of their split saying: ‘Madison is amazing – we’ve had an incredible journey together. Our marriage, like every marriage, has had its difficulties. The lifestyle shift into public life has been strenuous, and many aspects of the transition have been unexpected’
Bayardelle is an assistant anesthesiologist in South Florida
Like his fiancée, Jacovas is a competitive CrossFit athlete
According to his various social media posts, Jacovas is a native of Brazil and now lives in Miami. He is an underwear and fitness model and CrossFit employee
Bayardelle has been dating Jacovas for just a year
Bayardelle boasts over 100,000 followers on her Instagram page
Still, she spoke highly of her husband in a statement given to Fox 46 shortly after he announced in December 2021 that they were divorcing just eight months after tying the knot.
‘Madison is amazing – we’ve had an incredible journey together. Our marriage, like every marriage, has had its difficulties. The lifestyle shift into public life has been strenuous, and many aspects of the transition have been unexpected,’ she said.
In the statement, the pair said they had mutually made the ‘enormously difficult decision’ to divorce after realizing there were ‘irreconcilable differences’ between them.
‘When Cristina and I were engaged, I was not a member of Congress. I felt called to serve and we both agreed that I should run. Our victory was unprecedented, but overnight our lives changed,’ he said in a statement posted by his spokesman.
‘That change has been both hectic and difficult, it’s neither the pace nor the lifestyle we had planned for.’
Cawthorn shot into the spotlight as a 25-year-old firebrand who beat out former President Trump’s pick for North Carolina’s 11th congressional district, Lydia Bennett.
During his brief time in office, the former congressman made headlines for trying to bring a gun aboard a plane, offering acquitted Kyle Rittenhouse a job, and most especially his scorching political rhetoric.
Around the time of their marriage, Bayardelle said she knew he ‘was the one’ after just months of dating.
Bayardelle spoke highly of her husband in a statement announcing their split
Bayardelle is a CrossFit athlete and anesthesiologist assistant
Cawthorn announced in December 2021 that he and Bayardelle (pictured together on their wedding day) mutually made the ‘enormously difficult decision’ to divorce after realizing there were ‘irreconcilable differences’ between them
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He announced the divorce in a statement shared by his spokesperson
‘I want to live in the world he creates, I just don’t want to be married to someone changing the world. While we have agreed to be apart now, we still have a great friendship and there’s no ill-will. Madison is a fighter – he will help save this country,’ Bayardelle said in her statement on the impending divorce.
Their wedding followed a six-month engagement during which Cawthorn was accused of making unwanted sexual advances toward more than 30 women when he attended a Christian college in Virginia for a semester in 2016.
In December 2021,Cawthorn said he and Bayardelle were ‘committed to make things work’ but quickly realized they were unable to balance his role as a public servant and their marriage.
‘From the outset, we committed to make things work, to fight for our marriage, and seek counsel for balancing the enormity of such a transition in life,’ Cawthorn explained.
‘Together, we realized that balance was not attainable, and that we had irreconcilable differences between us. While it was an enormously difficult decision, Cristina and I have mutually decided to divorce. We ask for privacy as we work through this privately.’
Eight months prior, when announcing their marriage to the public, Cawthorn said marrying Bayardelle, a 28-year-old anesthesiologist assistant and CrossFit athlete, was the ‘greatest honor, privilege and adventure of my life.’
The couple, who were introduced by mutual friends, went public with their engagement in October 2020.
Cawthorn, who was paralyzed in a car crash at the age of 21, previously shared how he’d never seen anyone who could do as many pull-ups as Bayardelle, noting that he spent months learning how to kneel so he could propose.
Bayardelle said they instantly ‘hit it off’ and she knew he ‘was the one’ after dating for just four months.
Cawthorn, then-25, became the youngest member of Congress in November 2020 after he defeated Democratic rival Moe Davis in a spiteful contest for North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District seat.
The Republican gained regular appearances on cable news claiming that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen, and quickly became a favorite of former President Donald Trump
The couple, who were introduced by mutual friends, went public with their engagement in October 2020. They shared a whirlwind romance, in which Bayardelle said she knew he ‘was the one’ after just months of dating
Cawthorn (pictured with Bayardelle) cited challenges associated with his role in Congress as contributing factors to their split
After his victory, he tweeted: ‘Cry more, Lib’.
One day after Cawthorn’s win, Bayardelle posted on Instagram: ‘Looking forward to the future with you. Words cannot describe how proud I am of you! My fiancé is the youngest congressman and going to make history. Off to DC and I couldn’t be happier.’
The Republican gained regular appearances on cable news claiming that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen, and quickly became a favorite of former President Donald Trump.
He spoke at the ‘Stop the Steal’ rally on January 6, prior to the insurrection at the Capitol, which left five people, including police officer Brian Sicknick, dead.
In February, it was revealed that Cawthorn’s ex-classmates claimed he sexually harassed women at Patrick Henry College in northern Virginia.
The alleged victims said they were warned not to go on so-called ‘fun drives’ with him in his white Dodge Challenger ‘because bad things happened’.
Cawthorn (pictured in June 2020) became the youngest member of Congress in November 2020 after he defeated Democratic rival Moe Davis in a spiteful contest for North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District seat
Cawthorn joined the school in fall 2016 at the age of 21 after his 2014 car accident and subsequent recovery delayed his college attendance, making him three years older than the strict Christian, conservative first-year women also attending.
More than two dozen students spoke out about his alleged mistreatment of women on the campus including four women who said they experienced first hand his alleged aggressive, misogynistic, or predatory way toward women.
One woman described sensing a ‘danger warning’ when she went out for a drive with Cawthorn and he started ‘taking me out to the middle of nowhere’ while asking questions about her purity ring.
Two resident assistants at the conservative religious college said they would warn young women to stay away from him and female students said they told each other not to end up alone with him.
The congressman denied ever acting in a sexually inappropriate way.
The allegations surfaced in a Buzzfeed investigation, with more than 30 people including 20 former students, their friends and relatives alleging they witnessed, experienced or knew of sexual harassment and misconduct by the congressman around the college campus, at his nearby house and in his car.
In the open letter in October, more than 160 members of the Patrick Henry community accused Cawthorn of ‘gross misconduct towards our female peers, public misrepresentation of his past, disorderly conduct that was against the school’s student honor code, and self-admitted academic failings.’
The bombshell claims came after one woman, Katrina Krulikas, told World Magazine in August 2020 that Cawthorn had forcibly kissed her in 2014 when he was 19 and she was 17.
Krulikas, who did not attend the Christian college, claimed they were on a drive together when Cawthorn started asking if she was a virgin.
She said he pressured her to sit on his lap, tried to kiss her and when she dismissed his advances tried again by holding her face.
Cawthorn denied the allegation in September but allegedly texted Krulikas last February apologizing that he was ‘over the line.’
In June at Los Angeles International Airport, Cawthorn told DailyMail.com he has no plans for a post-politics career in Hollywood but demurred when asked if he was considering going to work at Fox which has a bureau in the City of Angels.
He told DailyMail.com: ‘You know what, I’m just enjoying my life. Just enjoying my life.’
