- Ron and Casey DeSantis were married in Walt Disney World in 2009, Insider first reported.
- The couple opened up about their marriage for the first time in a Sirius XM Patriot radio interview.
- Florida’s governor admitted that the choice ended up being “kind of ironic.”
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has opened up publicly for the first time about how he and his wife, Casey DeSantis, ended up exchanging their vows during a fairy tale wedding at the Walt Disney World Resort – to only fight a fierce battle with the family favorite. company after 13 years.
In an interview with Florida’s first lady Casey DeSantis, the Republican governor confirmed Insider’s November 2022 report on the wedding, which had not been previously reported and was unknown to most of Florida’s political class. .
“In anticipation of what we’ve done as governor and some of the dealings we’ve had with some of the big institutions in Florida, it’s ridiculous,” DeSantis said, according to a transcript and recording of interview shared with Insider , which will air Monday on conservative SiriusXM Patriot radio.
In the interview, Casey DeSantis acknowledged that the revelation, which came before Election Day, “created a lot of news.” Her parents came up with the idea for them to get married at Disney World because they always looked forward to visiting the theme park when she was growing up in Ohio, she said.
“And one of the other great things is the fact that they do a lot of planning for you,” he said about Disney’s wedding offerings. “So I can only show one thing. And it was a lot of fun.”
The comments confirmed Insider’s reporting, after interviewing a wedding guest, that Casey DeSantis “wanted something all-inclusive and integrated.”
The interview clip did not provide details about the wedding, but Insider previously reported that the DeSantises’ ceremony will be in the Grand Floridian’s wedding pavilion, a chapel with arched windows overlooking Cinderella’s Castle and the Seven Sea Lagoon. The reception was held at Epcot’s Italy Isola, in a nod to the couple’s Italian heritage.
As DeSantis runs for reelection in November 2022, he will often brag about his retaliation against Disney for violating its Parental Rights in Education Act, opponents of the law such as LGBTQ rights organizations called “Say No Gay.” He did not mention during his campaign that he got married there.
—Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantisFL) September 26, 2022
DeSantis retaliated against Disney after its leaders said they would seek to repeal the “Don’t Say Gay” law by stripping the company of its self-governing status starting in June 2022. DeSantis is expected to sign another bill to become law within days or weeks that would give him the power to appoint a state-run board to manage the resort and theme park.
Disney is the largest private employer in Florida and the company has been promoting gay rights since the 1990s.
The controversial schools law bans teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade, though it also contains harsh language that such instruction in higher grades must be “appropriate to age or developmentally appropriate.”
Some Florida school boards have indicated they are confused about how to follow the law, and critics say they are concerned about chilling the speech of LGBTQ teachers and about students being bullied or harassed. – out of families that do not accept them.
Casey DeSantis shared in an interview with SiriusXM Patriots that she won’t take her three children to Disney World “until things change a little bit there,” though she acknowledged that her wedding had “a fun time ” and revealed that his parents were celebrating. their 50th wedding anniversary at the theme park.
He also opened up about his first date with the future governor, who is widely seen as eyeing a 2024 presidential run.
The two met at a driving range at the University of North Florida. In a 2018 interview with First Coast News, Casey DeSantis shared that he was practicing his swing and looking over his shoulder to see if he could get an extra bucket of golf balls. DeSantis was behind him and thought he was watching him.
Casey DeSantis said in an interview with SiriusXM Patriots that he didn’t know DeSantis was going to quit politics. But since then, Casey DeSantis has become an equal partner, a master image maker, and a strong confidante to her husband, Insider revealed in a feature about Florida’s first lady.
“We went out and we had a beer,” at the family sports restaurant Beef o’ Brady’s, Casey DeSantis said in an upcoming interview. “That was the first time I met a guy and just followed them in their car to a place to get a beer. .”