Who Is Maureen E. McPhilmy? Bill O’Reilly’s Ex-Wife, Her Marriage, Divorce, and Two Children

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Maureen E. McPhilmy is an American public relations executive. Most people know her as the ex-wife of TV host Bill O’Reilly. She was married to him for about 15 years, and they have two children. After the marriage ended, the two went through a long and very public court fight about custody and money.

McPhilmy has never been a media star. She does not give interviews, and she keeps her private life quiet. Because of that, a lot of websites repeat wrong or mixed-up facts about her. This article sticks to what news outlets and court-based reports have said, and it tells you clearly when something is not confirmed.

Quick Bio Table

Detail	Information
Full name	Maureen E. McPhilmy
Known as	Ex-wife of Bill O’Reilly
Job	Public relations executive (widely reported)
Nationality	American
Date of birth	Not confirmed (some sites say May 1966, but they do not agree)
Place of birth	Not confirmed (sites list different towns in New York)
First husband	Bill O’Reilly
Wedding date	November 2, 1996 (reported), St. Brigid Church, Westbury, New York
Separation	April 2010
Divorce	Finalized in September 2011
Children	Madeline (born 1998) and Spencer (born 2003)
Second husband	Jeffrey Gross, a Nassau County police detective
Home area	Long Island, New York

Who Is Maureen E. McPhilmy?

Maureen E. McPhilmy worked in public relations before she became well known. Public relations means helping people or companies share their message with the public. Several sources describe her as an executive in that field.

Her name became famous because of her marriage to Bill O’Reilly. He hosted The O’Reilly Factor on Fox News for many years and wrote best-selling books. When their marriage ended, newspapers and TV shows covered the story for years.

It is important to say that McPhilmy herself has said very little in public. Most of what people know comes from court papers, lawyers, and reporters. That is why you should be careful with websites that give very exact details about her early life, her salary, or her net worth. Many of those numbers are guesses, and the sites often disagree with each other.

Her Career

Reports say McPhilmy worked as a public relations executive. Some websites say she worked in TV media before her marriage. A few small sites even call her a nurse or a television producer, but these claims do not match the more common reports, and no major news outlet backs them up.

What we can say safely is this: she worked in public relations, and she has stayed out of the spotlight since her divorce. We could not find a public record of her current employer, so we will not guess.

How She Met Bill O’Reilly

Several biography pages say the two met around 1992, when O’Reilly was hosting the TV show A Current Affair and McPhilmy worked in public relations. These pages are not official sources, so treat the exact year as a report and not a proven fact.

What is more widely repeated is the wedding. The couple married on November 2, 1996, at St. Brigid Church in Westbury, New York, with more than 100 guests. O’Reilly grew up in that part of Long Island and went to a school linked to the same church, so the place meant a lot to him.

Their Two Children

Bill O’Reilly and Maureen McPhilmy have two children:

Madeline, born in 1998
Spencer, born in 2003

Both children have mostly stayed out of the public eye. They became part of the news because of the custody case. By early 2016, news reports described them as being 17 and 13 years old. Today, Madeline is an adult.

The Separation and Divorce

The couple separated in April 2010. They signed a separation agreement in 2010, and the divorce was finalized in September 2011.

At first, the split was handled quietly. Then the fight about the children began. According to a New York law firm that wrote about the case, McPhilmy asked the court to change the custody plan only one month after the divorce was final. That started years of legal back-and-forth.

The Custody Battle

The custody fight lasted for about three years in the courtroom and was very bitter. These are the main points:

April 2015: A Nassau County judge changed the original plan. McPhilmy became the parent with primary residence for the children, and O’Reilly got visiting time.
February 24, 2016: A New York appeals court agreed with that decision. The judges said the case was about the best interests of the children.
Why the court decided this way: The court said it gave weight to the clear wishes of the children, because of their age and maturity. It also pointed to the quality of the home that their mother provided.
Legal custody: O’Reilly kept shared legal custody. This means he still had a say in big decisions about the children, like school and health.

Most of the court papers in the case were sealed, so many details are not public. Because of that, news reports often rely on testimony that was leaked or on partial records.

The Abuse Claims and O’Reilly’s Answer

During the case, reports appeared about a 2011 court statement from McPhilmy. In it, she claimed that O’Reilly had dragged her down a flight of stairs after an argument. Reports also said that their daughter saw part of the event.

O’Reilly strongly denied this. He called the claims “100 percent false” in a public statement, and he said his ex-wife and her side were trying to hurt him in court. Because the court papers are sealed, outsiders cannot check every detail. We should treat these as claims and a denial, not as proven facts.

Other Disputes in the News

The custody case was not the only conflict. Reports from several outlets also mention these:

The $10 million lawsuit: In 2016, news outlets reported that O’Reilly started a $10 million legal case against McPhilmy. He said she gave false information during their divorce talks and used divorce money to pay for another relationship. The papers were first shared by the website Gawker. The reports we found do not clearly say how that case ended.
The police investigation claim: Some reports say O’Reilly asked for an internal affairs review of Jeffrey Gross, the police detective who later became McPhilmy’s husband. O’Reilly had earlier helped raise money for the same police department. This was reported through other media, so it is better to read it as a claim.
The church claim: Reports also said O’Reilly tried to have McPhilmy removed from the Catholic Church after the divorce. This was also reported by the media and has not been proven in public records.

A New Court Ruling in 2026

A recent article from a New York law firm says a Nassau County judge found McPhilmy in civil contempt of court. The judge said she did not follow a court order that gave O’Reilly time with his daughter. According to that article, the fine was reported as $310,000. It says O’Reilly had asked for $2,500 for each day she did not follow the order, counting from October 11, 2015.

The same article says the judge believed she had decided long ago that she was the parent more deserving of the children’s loyalty. This is the judge’s view as reported by a law firm, and we could not find a public comment from McPhilmy about it. If you share this story, please say that her side is missing.

Life After the Divorce

After the separation, McPhilmy began a relationship with Jeffrey Gross, a detective with the Nassau County Police Department in Long Island. Reports say they dated from 2010 and later married. Some sites say Gross has two children from an earlier marriage, which would make a blended family of four children. Those family details come from smaller websites, so they are less certain.

She lives a private life in the New York area. She does not appear in the media often, and she does not seem to have public social media pages. That is a big reason why so many pages online mix up her facts.

Facts That Are Still Unclear

Because McPhilmy keeps her life private, some details are hard to confirm. You may see different answers online for these:

Her exact birthday and birthplace. Different websites list different dates and different towns.
Her net worth. You will see numbers from $1 million to $11 million. These are guesses. No reliable source has proven a figure.
Her divorce settlement. The terms are sealed.
Her exact job today. We could not find a public source for this.

A good rule is simple. If a site gives a lot of exact numbers but does not name a news source or court record, be careful.

Why Do People Search for Her?

There are a few reasons. Bill O’Reilly is a famous person, so people want to know about the woman he married. The divorce was in the news for years. And because McPhilmy is so private, people often look for a simple summary. We hope this article gives you that, in clear and fair words.

Final Thoughts

Maureen E. McPhilmy is a private person who became well known because of a high-profile marriage and a long legal fight. The solid facts are these: she was married to Bill O’Reilly from 1996, they have two children, they separated in 2010, and their divorce was finalized in 2011. Courts in New York later decided that the children would live mainly with her.

Many other details are claims, guesses, or sealed in court files. When you read about her online, look for named news outlets and court records, and ignore pages that sound too sure about things nobody can prove.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Who is Maureen E. McPhilmy? She is an American public relations executive and the ex-wife of TV host Bill O’Reilly.

2. When did Maureen McPhilmy marry Bill O’Reilly? Reports say they married on November 2, 1996, in Westbury, New York.

3. When did they divorce? They separated in April 2010, and the divorce was finalized in September 2011.

4. How many children do they have? They have two children, a daughter named Madeline (born 1998) and a son named Spencer (born 2003).

5. Who won the custody case? In 2015, a Nassau County judge named McPhilmy the parent with primary residence. An appeals court agreed in 2016. O’Reilly kept shared legal custody.

6. Did Bill O’Reilly deny the abuse claims? Yes. He called the claims “100 percent false.” The court papers are sealed, so the full facts are not public.

7. Is Maureen McPhilmy married now? Reports say she is married to Jeffrey Gross, a Nassau County police detective.

8. What is Maureen McPhilmy’s net worth? There is no confirmed number. Websites give very different guesses, and her divorce settlement is sealed.

9. How old is Maureen McPhilmy? Her exact birth date is not confirmed. Some sites say she was born in 1966, but they do not all agree.

10. Does Maureen McPhilmy have social media? We could not find any verified public accounts. She keeps her life private.