Gena O’Kelley is a former model and presently, the wife of Chuck Norris. Now Mrs. Norris began her modeling career as soon as she graduated from high school. She, however, dumped modeling and focused on acting and later on, being a mother and businesswoman.
Her husband, Carlos Ray ‘Chuck’ Norris is an American actor, film producer, martial artist, and screenwriter. He has black belts in 3 martial arts and also teaches other celebrities the art.
His wife, Gena, in addition to being a former model, is also an actress and TV personality. Unfortunately, not much is known about the jobs she has done professionally as a model. She came into the limelight as Chuck Norris’ wife. Interestingly, she isn’t the film producer’s first wife.
Brief Biography Of Gena O’Kelley
Gena was born on the 10th of August 1963 in California, United States of America. Her parents are known to be Alan Gordon O’Kelley and Anette O’Kelley. Her dad was a security guard who used to work at Hewlett-Packard and Kunde Estate Winery.
She grew up with three siblings; a brother and two sisters. Her siblings are identified as Eric, Maureen, and Elizabeth. She is quite educated as there are mentions of her attending high school. Gena’s dad passed away on the 10th of February 2008.
Interesting Details About Gena O’Kelley
1. How Gena And Chuck Met
Chuck and his wife, Gina met in 1997 and grew a fondness for her. They met at the end of the shooting of a television series in which Chuck had a minor role. Given how smitten he was of Gena, he invited her to Dallas, Texas in order to know her better. It is reported that their first meeting happened on a day Chuck was having a date with someone else.
The process of getting acquainted developed into something more intimate and soon romance began to seep in. Eventually, what happened to be a friendship led to a marriage proposal and the eventual sealing of a love relationship.
On the 28th of November 1998, barely a month after meeting each other, Chuck and Gena decided to tie the ceremonial marriage knot.
2. Do They Have Kids Together?
The couple has a set of twins birthed on the 30th of August 2001. Three years after marriage, they welcomed twin boy and girl Dakota Alan Norris and Danielle Kelly Norris. She is also a stepmother and grandmother as most of her kids are all grown and have their own families now.
3. Gena O’Kelley And Chuck’s Kids Also Hold Degrees In Martial Arts
Chuck Norris’ kids with his second wife, O’Kelley are both Martial artists. They both took after their dad and have degrees in Mixed Martial Arts. The boy, Dakota holds a 3rd-degree black belt while his sister is a 2nd-degree black belt holder.
Dakota Alan also has a YouTube channel dedicated to Mixed Martial Arts. He has also reportedly featured in some of his father’s movies.
4. Gena’s Husband Has Kids From Previous Relationships
Chuck Norris isn’t a father to just Dakota and Danielle. Before they were born, he had planted his seeds in other women including his first wife. His first child named Mike Norris was born in 1962. He also has another son with his first wife named Eric who was born in 1964.
However, his second-born child is a girl known as Dina who was born in 1963. Dina was born by a woman with whom Chuck had an extra-marital affair. He however did not know about Dina till she was 26 years old.
5. About Chuck Norris’ First Marriage
Chuck Norris was married to a woman identified as Dianne Kay Holechek. She was born in 1941 and attended the same high school as Chuck. The ex-couple met and fell in love in high school in Torrance, California in 1956.
Chuck and Dianne got married two years after meeting (1958) while aged 18 and 17 respectively. Their marriage lasted until 1989 when they got divorced after separating a year before.
In their 30 years of marriage, they shared the love of and for their kids as well as ups and downs. Ten years after separating from Dianne, Chuck found love again in Gena whom he got married to 10 years after his divorce.
6. Gena Is Same Age With Chuck Norris’ Second Child
Chuck Norris was born on the 10th of March 1940 and is currently 84 years old. His wife Gena O’Kelley was born in 1962 and is presently 61 years old. She even shares a birth year with the actor’s second child, Dina who was born in 1963.
Therefore, the age difference between them is about 23 years. This age gap does not deter the love and respect they have for each other. On the contrary, they act like best friends and as if there isn’t that age factor in their relationship.
7. Gena O’Kelley Was Also In A Relationship Before Chuck
Gena, prior to meeting Chuck was also in a relationship that ended at about the same time as Chuck’s first marriage. She was married to Gordon Hinschberger and has two kids with him. Gena reportedly birthed Kelley Gene Hinschberger born on the 11th of September 1985. Their second child together is and Timothy Robert Hinschberger born on the 3rd of May 1987.
See Also: Barbaranne Wylde Is Zakk Wylde’s Wife: Their Love Life, Facts About Her
8. She Has Featured In A Couple Of Movies
The beautiful actress has been in a couple of movies since the early 2000s. Some of these movies include the following;
9. Gena O’Kelley Had Health Challenges
Former model and beautiful wife of Chuck Norris was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in 2013. She even went for an MRI scan but afterward developed terrible symptoms from injections given during the scan.
The injections which were supposed to help with a clearer scan ended up causing Chuck’s wife to have burning nerve pains as well as kidney problems. This new challenge caused her to be bedridden for a long while and even had to be under intensive care. As a result of this, Gena’s husband had to retire from his career to take care of his wife.
This issue lingered for a couple of years and with enough medical care, she began to get better. However, they sued about 11 medical companies for over $10 million in damages for the health issue.
10. How Rich Is Gena O’Kelley?
The second wife of the Mixed Martial artiste, Gena reportedly has about $2 million in net worth. The former model and American actress in addition to her career joined her husband in several business ventures.
Together, they made investments in real estate as well as running a gym service. Their gym is called ‘Total Gym’. Additionally, Gena owns a bottled water company known as CForce.
The Norris family also runs an organization that offers martial arts instructions to young kids and youths. The organization is called ‘Kickstart Kids’.
In total, Mr. and Mrs. Chuck Norris has a net worth of about $70 million.
