Diane Plese: The Untold Story of Robert Herjavec’s Ex-Wife

Diane Plese is a Canadian optometrist best known as the former wife of entrepreneur and Shark Tank investor Robert Herjavec. Their marriage lasted roughly 24 years, and its end produced one of Canada’s most closely watched divorce cases.

Calling her simply “the ex-wife” misses the bigger picture. Plese ran her own optometry practice before Herjavec became a television personality, then stepped back to raise their three children — and Ontario courts eventually measured the worth of those choices. This article sticks to what can be verified.

Quick Facts About Diane Plese

Her Early Life and Education

Reliable details about Plese’s childhood are scarce — celebrity websites publish a birth year (usually 1959), a Toronto neighborhood, and family background, but those claims bounce from site to site with no solid primary source behind them.

Court judgments confirm she was born and raised in Ontario, attended the University of Western Ontario, and completed a six-year optometry degree before opening her own office.

Her Optometry Career

During the early years of the relationship and marriage, Plese worked full time as an optometrist and ran her own practice — while Herjavec worked as a self-employed entrepreneur.

Motherhood changed the pattern. After their first child was born in 1993, she shifted to part-time work between maternity leaves. Then, around 2003, the shift became complete: Herjavec encouraged her to stop working, and she agreed — leaving the workforce entirely to manage the household and raise their children while he poured himself into his growing businesses. That sequence later sat at the center of the divorce litigation.

Marriage to Robert Herjavec

How They Met

Their story began in Plese’s own office. Robert Herjavec became one of her patients when both were in their late twenties, according to the Ontario Superior Court judgment, and they married in June 1990 — before his fame.

The timing reshapes how people see the marriage: Herjavec lost his job right after their honeymoon and soon launched Brak Enterprises, a company reselling cybersecurity software (“Brak” means “marriage” in Croatian, the court noted). She married an unemployed entrepreneur at the starting line and stayed through every phase that followed.

Family and Children

Plese and Herjavec had three children: a son born in 1993, followed by daughters in 1996 and 1998. Public sources identify them as Brendan, Skye, and Caprice.

As the family grew, her professional life kept shrinking. She returned to optometry part time after each maternity leave rather than resuming her earlier full-time schedule. By about 2003, she had stopped professional work altogether.

Wealth and Lifestyle

The couple’s finances changed beyond recognition over 24 years. The Court of Appeal described an exceptionally affluent lifestyle at separation: a large home in Toronto’s Bridle Path area, a recreational property in Florida, a cottage in Muskoka, a ski chalet in Caledon, private-school tuition, and access to a company private jet. The Bridle Path home shows the scale — bought for $7 million, sold after the separation for $17.395 million — and such details became courtroom evidence.

Separation and the Divorce Case

Plese and Herjavec separated in July 2014 after about 24 years together. She started family-law proceedings in March 2015, and their divorce was finalized in 2016, according to multiple published accounts. The private reasons behind the split should be handled with care — verified sources confirm only the timeline, not the motives — but the legal aftermath is firmly documented, and it was far more than a simple property split.

The 2018 trial combined family-law questions with disputes over the Robert Herjavec Family Trust. It lasted about four weeks — the appeal court later noted 18 days of evidence and 13 witnesses, including both spouses, two of their children, and valuation and forensic accounting experts.

Property Equalization

Under Ontario family law, equalization evens out the difference between each spouse’s net family property. The trial judge put his at roughly $24.16 million and Plese’s at about $18.84 million, then ordered him to pay her $2,689,558 — far less than she had sought. On The Herjavec Group’s value alone, the two sides’ experts stood roughly $30 million apart — celebrity “net worth” headlines rarely capture how contested private wealth really is.

The Family Trust Dispute

The trust, set up in the 1990s with Herjavec as sole trustee, received 75% of his Brak shares. After the separation, Plese learned it held almost no assets, which led to demands for an accounting and claims that Herjavec had used trust property for himself or his company.

The court found he had breached fiduciary duties by failing to keep trust money properly separate and by keeping poor records — but called the breach innocent and found the beneficiaries had suffered no real financial loss, since forensic accounting showed they had received benefits exceeding the trust funds at issue.

Spousal Support

The trial ordered Herjavec to pay Plese $125,000 per month indefinitely; he appealed, but the Court of Appeal for Ontario dismissed the appeal in December 2020.

The court upheld the analysis: the length of the marriage, each spouse’s role, their means and circumstances, and the economic fallout of the arrangement. She had entered the marriage as a full-time healthcare professional, reduced her work for the children, and eventually left it behind while his businesses expanded.

Why Net Worth Estimates Differ

Searches for Plese’s net worth turn up numbers from $25 million to over $100 million — treat every one of them with suspicion. No celebrity-biography site has access to her bank accounts, investments, debts, or tax records, and divorce judgments capture a moment in time, not a live balance sheet. The court record gives verified historical numbers ($18.84 million net family property, a $2,689,558 equalization payment, $125,000 monthly support) — but not a current net worth.

Where Is She Now?

Plese keeps a far lower profile than her former husband. He stayed in the public eye as a television personality and businessman; she did not chase comparable visibility, and verified details about her daily life after the divorce are thin. Claims about where she lives or whether she still practices optometry should be treated as unconfirmed without recent, solid sources.

What Her Story Really Shows

Plese’s case offers a concrete lesson about career sacrifice: leaving the workforce does not only cost this year’s salary — over a decade or more, it can also cost promotions, professional networks, pension growth, and future earning power.

She had trained for six years as an optometrist and run her own office, then left the field entirely by 2003 while her husband’s businesses grew enormously. The courts treated that not as a coincidence to ignore but as an economic partnership to evaluate. Herjavec’s business success is real — but the decisions show the other side of it: the household structure that made it possible, and the price it carried for the person who maintained it. Robert Herjavec’s public biography is documented on Wikipedia.

Conclusion

Diane Plese’s life reads more clearly as the story of a healthcare professional, mother, and long-term partner than as a footnote in a celebrity biography. She built an optometry career, married before her husband’s greatest success, raised three children, and left paid work as his businesses grew.

The strongest lesson is not a dollar figure: unpaid family work and career sacrifice can carry real, lasting economic weight — and court records deserve more trust than the confident claims bouncing between celebrity websites.

FAQs

Who is Diane Plese?

Diane Plese is a Canadian optometrist and the former wife of entrepreneur and Shark Tank investor Robert Herjavec. She was born and raised in Ontario, earned a six-year optometry degree at the University of Western Ontario, and ran her own practice before stepping back to raise her children.

How did she meet Robert Herjavec?

According to the Ontario Superior Court judgment, Herjavec became Plese’s patient at her optometry practice when both were in their late twenties. They married in June 1990 — before his business success and television fame.

How many children do they have?

They have three children: a son born in 1993 and daughters born in 1996 and 1998. Public sources identify them as Brendan, Skye, and Caprice.

How much spousal support was she awarded?

Following the 2018 trial, Robert Herjavec was ordered to pay Plese $125,000 per month for an indefinite period. His appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeal for Ontario in December 2020.