Ex Wife Age Diane Addonizio: How Old Is She and What You Should Know About Her Life

Table of Contents

First, a Quick Correction

The search that brought you here calls Diane Addonizio “ex wife.” That’s wrong. Diane Addonizio and Howie Long have been married since June 1982. They are still married. Over forty years together, three sons who all followed the family into professional sports, grandchildren, decades of public and private life navigated side by side — none of that has ended. Diane is not an ex-anything. She’s one of the longest-standing NFL wives in the history of the league, and that story is more interesting than the incorrect premise suggested by that search term.

Quick Bio

Detail	Info
Full Name	Diane Addonizio (now Diane Addonizio Long)
Born	Approximately 1960–1962, Red Bank, New Jersey, USA
Age	Around 63–65 years old as of 2026
Nationality	American
What She Does	Attorney by training; author; philanthropist; devoted mother and grandmother
Biggest Accomplishments	Earned a law degree from Villanova University; raised three sons who all became professional athletes or sports executives — Chris Long (two-time Super Bowl champion), Kyle Long (NFL Pro Bowl offensive lineman), and Howie Long Jr. (Raiders front office); married to Howie Long for over 43 years, one of the most enduring partnerships in NFL family history
Key Facts	She and Howie met as undergraduates at Villanova University in Pennsylvania; she stepped back from active legal practice after marrying to focus on family; her personal net worth is estimated at around $1–2 million; the family lives in Virginia; Howie Long’s net worth is estimated at approximately $16 million

Why Her Name Is Still Being Looked Up

There’s a certain kind of person who lives almost entirely in someone else’s spotlight. Their name turns up in searches tied to their more famous partner. People click expecting a footnote and get a full person instead.

Diane Addonizio is that kind of person. She wed one of the NFL’s most physically formidable defensive players. All three of her boys have headed front offices, won Super Bowls, and made Pro Bowls. She spent decades sitting in the stands, watching her family play out major chapters of their lives on national television. And through all of it, she stayed remarkably quiet.

That’s why people search for her. They want to understand the woman who anchored all of that. The more you examine her, the more you see that she was load-bearing infrastructure rather than merely background scenery.

Jersey Shore Roots

Diane was born in Red Bank, New Jersey, sometime around 1960 to 1962. Red Bank sits on the Navesink River just inland from the Jersey Shore — a small city with a proud working-class identity, the kind of place where people know each other and community matters more than glamour. The Addonizio family was rooted in that tradition.

The details of her childhood are almost entirely her own business, because Diane has never seen any reason to share them publicly. What we can reasonably infer is that she grew up in a household that put education first. You don’t get into Villanova University — a genuinely competitive school with strong academics — and then push through law school without a foundation that was built early and built well.

She’s been described in various places as someone who came from a close family with strong values, and while that sounds like the kind of language you put on a motivational calendar, in Diane’s case you can actually trace it through the decisions she made as a mother. The Long household produced a defensive end who gave away his entire playoff bonus to his offensive linemen, an offensive lineman who played through serious injury for years without complaint, and a youngest son who quietly went into player personnel rather than chase his own spotlight. Those are not coincidences. Those are values that got installed somewhere.

Villanova and a Very Significant Meeting

Diane enrolled at Villanova University in suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Villanova is a Catholic institution with a competitive academic reputation and strong athletics — the kind of place where serious students and serious athletes sometimes find themselves in the same orbit. She pursued a legal education, working toward the degree that would eventually make her a licensed attorney.

At some point during her undergraduate or graduate years at Villanova, she met a very tall, very driven young man named Howard Matthew Moses Long — who went by Howie — who was there on a football scholarship and building a name for himself as one of the best defensive prospects in college football.

The story of how exactly they met has been kept largely between them, which is consistent with how they’ve handled most of their private life. What’s known is that they were both at Villanova, they found each other there, and whatever the spark was, it proved durable enough to outlast an NFL career, a broadcasting career, the raising of three children, and more than four decades of everything life throws at a couple.

One charming story that has surfaced is that when Howie first took Diane out, he brought her to watch one of his football games. That’s simultaneously the most football-player thing you can imagine and also a strangely revealing detail about both of them — that she said yes, that she came, that she apparently wasn’t put off by being brought to watch him play on what was essentially a first date. A woman who wasn’t genuinely interested in the sport and the person wouldn’t have stuck around past that evening.

Building a Legal Career

After completing her education, Diane became a licensed attorney. She practiced law — the specific area of her practice isn’t one she’s publicized, which again reflects her general approach to keeping her professional history private. What’s confirmed is that she was a credentialed, practicing lawyer. Getting through law school is not a passive achievement. It requires sustained intellectual effort, long hours, and genuine discipline. She did that.

The timing created a complicated situation that millions of professional women have navigated: she married Howie Long in June 1982, just as his NFL career with the Oakland Raiders was getting underway. She was a newly qualified attorney. He was ready to start a thirteen-year career as a professional football player after being drafted as a defensive end. The Raiders were based in Oakland — about as far from New Jersey as you can get in the continental United States.

Their careers had to change in some way. And Diane made the choice — a choice she’s never appeared to regret or resent — to step back from active legal practice to focus on their family and support Howie’s career. This was her decision. She’s spoken warmly about it in the limited interviews she’s given. The family she built is, by any visible measure, the evidence of how seriously she took that role.

The Oakland Years and an NFL Life

Being married to an Oakland Raider in the early-to-mid 1980s was being married to a team with real swagger and real championship pedigree. Al Davis ran the Raiders on his own terms, the franchise had just moved from Oakland to Los Angeles when Howie was drafted, and the team was on the verge of their greatest single season.

In January 1984, the Raiders — including Howie Long, who was by then one of the most feared defensive players in the NFL — won Super Bowl XVIII, dismantling the Washington Redskins. Howie was 24. He and Diane had been married less than two years. Their first son, Chris, was born in March 1985, followed by Kyle in December 1988, and then Howie Jr. in March 1990.

Diane was raising three boys while her husband was being recognized as one of the most dominant defensive ends in football. In 1985, he won the NFL Defensive Player of the Year award. He went to eight Pro Bowls. The Raiders retired his jersey number 75. In 2000, he received his Pro Football Hall of Fame induction.

Through all of it, Diane was somewhere in the background — in the stands, at home, managing the logistics of a household built around the schedule and demands of professional sport. Anyone who’s lived inside an NFL family knows that the invisible labor of keeping that structure functional is enormous. It doesn’t get Hall of Fame inductions, but it’s not nothing.

Raising Three Athletes

Here is where Diane Addonizio Long’s story becomes quietly extraordinary. The three children she raised all went into professional sports or sports administration — but the manner in which they did it says something about how they were parented.

Chris Long, the eldest, became a defensive end in the NFL. He played for the St. The Philadelphia Eagles, Louis Rams, and New England Patriots. He won two Super Bowl rings: one in Super Bowl LI with New England and another in Super Bowl LII with Philadelphia. After Philadelphia’s championship, he made headlines not for the win but for giving his entire playoff check — around $500,000 — to fund scholarship programs in the cities where he played. That’s the kind of person you raise.

Kyle Long, the middle son, went to the Chicago Bears as an offensive lineman and made the Pro Bowl three times in his first three seasons. He dealt with serious injuries throughout his career and retired in 2020. He’s been publicly vulnerable about the physical toll football takes on the body, and he’s handled the transition out of the sport with notable self-awareness.

Howie Long Jr. took the least flashy path — he went into the Raiders’ front office in player personnel, doing the behind-the-scenes roster work that most people don’t understand or notice. He has stayed connected to the organization his father was part of for thirteen years.

Three sons raised in a football household by a father who was literally in the Hall of Fame for playing it. The fact that all three turned out to be thoughtful, grounded, charitable adults — only one of whom plays football, but all of whom approached their respective paths with genuine character — reflects something about the household Diane ran.

A Marriage That Has Actually Lasted

In a world where professional athletes’ marriages frequently collapse under the pressure of fame, money, travel, and the specific brand of chaos that comes with high-visibility careers, Howie and Diane Long have simply stayed married. Since 1982. Through the NFL career, through the move into broadcasting at Fox Sports, through three sons’ athletic careers, through grandchildren arriving.

Howie has occasionally been candid in interviews about what Diane means to him. He’s credited her with keeping the family stable during years when everything around them was in motion. He’s talked about her intelligence and her values. He’s been publicly affectionate about their relationship in the understated way that speaks more genuinely than florid declarations.

And Diane, for her part, has largely let the marriage speak for itself. She doesn’t do magazine profiles about their relationship. She doesn’t appear in content designed to showcase her as a power wife. She shows up at public events when it makes sense, sits in stands when her sons are playing, and otherwise keeps living the life she chose rather than performing it.

The Writing Chapter

One additional facet of Diane’s life that gets mentioned but not fully explored: she has been described in multiple sources as an author. The specifics of what she’s written — whether this refers to something formally published or something in progress — haven’t been made clear in available public records. Given how carefully she guards her privacy, it’s possible this is work she’s done without seeking significant attention for it.

Money, Simply Explained

Diane Addonizio’s personal net worth is estimated at roughly $1 to $2 million. This figure comes from her legal credentials and whatever business or financial interests she maintains. It’s not a large number by celebrity-spouse standards, and it reflects the fact that she stepped away from active legal practice relatively early and built her net worth through a combination of her own work and the financial stability that comes with being partnered with someone as financially successful as Howie Long.

Howie’s net worth is estimated at around $16 million, built from his NFL salary, his Fox Sports broadcasting contract that has run for decades, acting work in films including Broken Arrow and Firestorm, and endorsement deals over the years. The couple’s primary residence is a home in Virginia reportedly valued at around $6 million.

Taken together, the picture is of a financially secure family that accumulated wealth steadily and sensibly over decades — not a flash of lottery-winner spending but a long, compounding trajectory built on sustained careers.

Where She Stands Today

As of 2026, Diane Addonizio Long is somewhere in her mid-to-late sixties. She and Howie have been married for 44 years. Their son Chris retired from football, has been involved in charitable and media work, and is a father himself — making Diane a grandmother. Kyle navigated life after football with visible reflection and has stayed connected to the sport in various capacities. Howie Jr. continues his work in the Raiders organization.

Diane continues to live largely out of the public eye. She makes appearances at major events — Super Bowl parties, Hall of Fame ceremonies, family milestones — and by all evidence continues to be exactly what she’s always been: the still point at the center of a very busy family.

Final Words

What strikes me about Diane Addonizio is that she made a choice early in her adult life — to put the law degree on the shelf and invest her energy in a family — and then she fully committed to that choice without apparent ambivalence. There was no public second-guessing, no pivot to reclaim professional identity through visibility or brand-building. She just did the thing she decided to do, and the results are three thoughtful men whose public characters reflect well on the household they came from.

She’s also, in the most literal sense, proof that the people behind athletes are doing actual work. The NFL produces a lot of content about the players. Very little of it covers the logistics operations that keep players’ lives functional during the season. Diane ran that operation for thirteen years of NFL football and then raised three sons through their own athletic careers. That’s a long time to be excellent at something that nobody is scoring or broadcasting.

She picked a lane that didn’t come with applause. She stayed in it. And she’s still there.

FAQs

1. Is Diane Addonizio Howie Long’s ex-wife?

No. This is a common misconception behind the search query. Diane Addonizio and Howie Long have been married continuously since June 1982 — over 44 years. They are still married and, by all available evidence, very much together.

2. How old is Diane Addonizio?

She was born approximately 1960 to 1962 in Red Bank, New Jersey, making her around 63 to 65 years old as of 2026. The most frequently cited birth year in credible sources is 1960.

3. Where did Diane Addonizio grow up?

Red Bank, New Jersey — a small city on the Navesink River near the Jersey Shore, known for its tight-knit community character.

4. How did Diane and Howie Long meet?

They met as students at Villanova University in suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Both attended the same institution, and their relationship developed there before Howie was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in 1981.

5. When did they get married?

June 1982 — just about a year after Howie was drafted into the NFL. They’ve been together ever since.

6. What is Diane Addonizio’s professional background?

She is a trained attorney, having earned her law degree from Villanova University. She practiced law early in her career and subsequently stepped back from active legal practice to focus on family. She has been recognized as an author as well.

7. How many children do Diane and Howie Long have?

Three sons. Chris Long, born March 28, 1985, who played defensive end in the NFL and won two Super Bowl championships. Kyle Long, born December 5, 1988, who was an offensive lineman for the Chicago Bears and was a three-time Pro Bowl selection. And Howie Long Jr., born in 1990, who works in the player personnel department of the Las Vegas Raiders organization.

8. What is Diane Addonizio’s net worth?

Her personal net worth is estimated at approximately $1 to $2 million. The estimated net worth of Howie Long is $16 million. Together, they have a far more comfortable financial situation, which includes a mansion in Virginia that is estimated to be worth $6 million.

9. Where do Diane and Howie Long live?

Virginia, where they’ve been based for a significant portion of their adult life.The estimated value of their property there is almost $6 million.

10. Is Diane Addonizio on social media?

No. She doesn’t maintain public Instagram, Twitter, or other social media accounts. Her privacy is real and sustained, not performed.

11. What is her connection to the Villanova University football connection?

This is worth clarifying: Villanova is best known for basketball and academics, not football. Howie Long played college football there and was drafted by the Raiders from Villanova. It’s a less famous football program than the powerhouse schools, which makes his rise to NFL legend status all the more notable. Diane was studying law at the same institution.

12. Has Diane Addonizio written any books?

Multiple sources describe her as an author, though the specifics of what she has published or written are not well documented in the public record. Her solitary nature may have prevented her from pursuing public prominence while working on writing projects.

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