When most people hear the name Robert Herjavec, they think of the sharp-suited investor on Shark Tank, the cybersecurity mogul, or the charming Croatian-Canadian who built an empire from a basement startup. But behind that public success story stood a woman who rarely sought the spotlight herself: Diane Plese. An accomplished optometrist, a devoted mother, and a woman who chose dignity over drama, Diane has lived a life that’s far more interesting than the “ex-wife” label suggests. Her story is one of quiet ambition, family devotion, and the kind of personal resilience that doesn’t need a television camera to be impressive.
Who Is Diane Plese? Early Life and Croatian Roots
Diane Plese was born in 1959 in the Parkdale neighborhood of Toronto, Canada. Her parents were Croatian immigrants who had recently arrived in Canada in search of better opportunities, and they settled into the multicultural fabric of Toronto just before Diane came into the world. Growing up in an immigrant household meant absorbing values that would later define her adult life — discipline, education, family loyalty, and an almost old-fashioned belief in hard work as the only real path forward. Parkdale in those decades was a melting pot of European newcomers, and Diane’s childhood was shaped by that tight-knit community feel where neighbors helped neighbors and Sunday dinners were sacred.
Although Diane has always been famously private about her early years, what’s clear is that her parents prioritized her education from the very beginning. They wanted their daughter to have opportunities they themselves never had, and Diane responded by being a serious, focused student throughout her school years. She wasn’t the type chasing popularity or trends — she was the kid with her head in a book, quietly outpacing her peers academically. That early drive would eventually carry her into a demanding medical career at a time when women in healthcare still faced plenty of obstacles.
She also grew up alongside siblings, reportedly two of them, who similarly went on to build successful careers of their own. The Plese household clearly valued ambition and family equally, and Diane has often been described by those who know her as someone whose closest bonds remain with her family. Even today, she keeps that part of her life intensely private, which tells you a lot about how she was raised. In an era of social media oversharing, Diane represents an older sensibility — the belief that some things are simply not for public consumption.
Building a Career in Optometry
After finishing high school, Diane pursued a pre-medical bachelor’s degree before entering medical college, where she eventually specialized in optometry. It’s worth pausing on that for a moment, because in the late 1970s and early 1980s, a young woman from an immigrant family choosing a medical specialization wasn’t the easy or expected path. Optometry appealed to her because it combined the technical, scientific rigor she loved with the chance to genuinely help people in their daily lives. There’s something deeply practical about giving someone the gift of clearer vision, and that suited Diane’s grounded personality perfectly.
She established her practice in Toronto and quickly built a reputation as a careful, attentive, and warm optometrist. Patients didn’t just come to her for prescriptions — they came because she actually listened, took her time, and treated each person as more than a chart. In an industry that can sometimes feel rushed and transactional, Diane’s old-school approach to patient care set her apart. She built a loyal patient base the slow way, through word of mouth, repeat visits, and the kind of trust that takes years to earn.
What’s particularly notable about Diane’s career is that she never leaned on her famous husband’s name or fortune to elevate her professional standing. Even at the height of Robert Herjavec’s fame, when she could have easily coasted or stepped away from work entirely, she kept showing up at the clinic. Her career was her own identity, separate from her marriage, and that independence later proved to be one of her greatest sources of strength. When everything else in her personal life shifted dramatically, her work remained a steady anchor — a place where she was Dr. Plese, not someone’s ex-wife.
How She Met Robert Herjavec
The meet-cute between Diane Plese and Robert Herjavec is one of those stories that sounds almost too movie-perfect to be real. In 1988, a young Robert Herjavec walked into Diane’s Toronto optometry clinic for what should have been a routine eye appointment. He was nothing like the polished TV personality we know today. Back then, he was just a hungry young immigrant chasing big ambitions with very little money to back them up. But there was something about his energy — that famous Herjavec optimism — that caught Diane’s attention immediately.
Diane has spoken in past interviews about being drawn to Robert’s relentless enthusiasm for life. She found his excitement contagious, his ambition admirable, and his demeanor genuinely charming. For her part, Robert was struck by Diane’s intelligence, her caring nature, and the quiet confidence she carried as a young medical professional. They started dating not long after that first appointment, and what began as a chance encounter at her eye clinic blossomed into a serious relationship within a couple of years. It’s the kind of origin story that reminds you life’s biggest moments often arrive disguised as ordinary appointments.
After about two years of dating, the couple decided to make it official. In 1990, Diane and Robert exchanged vows at a Croatian church in Mississauga, Ontario, surrounded by family and friends who shared their cultural heritage. The wedding wasn’t extravagant — they couldn’t afford extravagant yet — but it was meaningful, rooted in tradition, and full of the hope that defines young marriages. Neither of them could have predicted at that point just how dramatically their life together would eventually transform, both for better and for worse.
Family Life and Raising Three Children
Marriage brought with it the responsibility of building a family, and Diane embraced motherhood with the same dedication she brought to everything else. The couple welcomed three children over the following years, and Diane took on the lion’s share of the parenting work — particularly during the years when Robert was grinding away at his cybersecurity startup BRAK Systems, often from their basement. While Robert chased his entrepreneurial dreams, Diane juggled her optometry practice with raising kids, managing a household, and being the emotional backbone of the family. It was a classic story of partnership: one spouse builds the business, the other holds everything else together.
Their eldest, Brendan Herjavec, was born in 1993 and grew up to become a business strategy and development professional, clearly inheriting some of his father’s business instincts but with his own quieter approach. Skye Herjavec arrived in 1996 and has carved out her own path as a business executive and entrepreneur, showing the kind of drive that runs in both sides of the family. The youngest, Caprice Herjavec, was born in 1998 and turned out to be the family’s standout athlete, excelling in college sports before transitioning into a career as a consultant at an executive compensation consulting firm. Three kids, three distinct personalities, three very different careers — and through it all, Diane was the constant.
What’s striking is how grounded all three children have remained despite growing up with a famous father and significant family wealth. That stability didn’t happen by accident. Diane reportedly worked hard to make sure her kids understood the value of work, education, and humility, even as their father’s profile exploded on shows like Dragons’ Den and Shark Tank. She kept their home life as normal as possible, shielded them from unnecessary attention, and prioritized their education and personal development over flashy lifestyles. The result speaks for itself: three accomplished, low-drama adults who actually built their own careers rather than coasting on the family name.
The Divorce and Its Aftermath
After 24 years of marriage, the relationship between Diane and Robert began unraveling, and in 2014 the couple officially separated. The divorce was finalized in 2016, and it was anything but quiet — at least on the public side. The Canadian media followed the proceedings closely, and the financial details alone made headlines. Reports indicated that Diane received around $25 million in the divorce settlement, which reportedly included some of the couple’s most prized properties, including their Caledon ski chalet and a Florida home. In 2019, the courts also ordered Robert to provide her with monthly spousal support of approximately $125,000.
The reasons behind the split were the subject of plenty of speculation. Some sources pointed to alleged infidelity on Robert’s part, while others recalled Diane’s own past comments about how their personalities had grown incompatible — she once mentioned that Robert’s relentless optimism had started to irritate her, while he reportedly nicknamed her “Miss Negative.” The truth, as it usually is with long marriages, was probably more complicated than any single explanation. Two decades of shared life, three children, a business empire, and the pressures of fame add up to a complex web that doesn’t unravel cleanly. The same year their divorce was finalized, Robert married Dancing With The Stars professional Kym Johnson, with whom he later welcomed twins, Hudson and Haven, in 2018.
For Diane, the aftermath was a study in restraint. While the divorce was reportedly devastating for Robert — he has openly discussed battling depression and even suicidal thoughts during that period, and credited volunteer work at a Seattle homeless shelter with helping him recover — Diane handled her side of the story with remarkable composure. She didn’t give tell-all interviews, didn’t trash her ex-husband publicly, and didn’t try to leverage the divorce for personal publicity. She simply went back to her life, focused on her children, and quietly continued her work. That kind of dignified silence is increasingly rare and, frankly, increasingly impressive.
Diane Plese Today: Life on Her Own Terms
These days, Diane Plese lives a deliberately low-profile life in Toronto, far from the celebrity orbit her ex-husband still occupies. She has no social media presence, rarely makes public appearances, and seems entirely uninterested in capitalizing on her connection to a famous name. After the divorce, she reportedly returned to her optometry practice, finding both purpose and a sense of normalcy in her professional work. For someone who spent years being defined publicly through her marriage, going back to being Dr. Plese in the exam room must have felt grounding.
Her financial independence — both from her own career and from the divorce settlement — has given her the freedom to live exactly the way she wants. By most estimates, she’s worth somewhere in the range of $100 million, but you’d never know it from her lifestyle. She isn’t flashy, doesn’t chase the spotlight, and seems perfectly content with a quiet life centered around her work, her health, and her relationships with her three adult children. Reports suggest that her bond with Brendan, Skye, and Caprice has only strengthened in the years since the divorce, which is probably the real measure of how she’s done.
There’s a lesson in how Diane Plese has handled the second act of her life. In a culture that often rewards loudness, oversharing, and the relentless pursuit of attention, she’s chosen a different path — one defined by personal autonomy, professional dignity, and a refusal to let the most difficult chapter of her life define the rest of it. She built a career on her own, raised three solid kids, weathered a very public marriage and divorce, and emerged still standing on her own terms. That’s not just being Robert Herjavec’s ex-wife. That’s being Diane Plese, full stop, and it turns out she’s a pretty remarkable person in her own right.
FAQs
1. Who is Diane Plese and what is she known for?
Diane Plese is a Canadian optometrist from Toronto, best known professionally for her successful eye care practice and publicly as the former wife of Shark Tank star Robert Herjavec.
2. How much did Diane Plese receive in her divorce from Robert Herjavec?
Diane Plese reportedly received around $25 million in her 2016 divorce settlement, which included properties like the Caledon ski chalet and a Florida home, plus monthly spousal support of $125,000 ordered in 2019.
3. How many children do Diane Plese and Robert Herjavec have?
The couple has three children together: Brendan Herjavec (born 1993), Skye Herjavec (born 1996), and Caprice Herjavec (born 1998), all of whom have built independent careers.
4. What is Diane Plese’s net worth in 2026?
Diane Plese’s net worth is estimated at around $100 million, built from her long-running optometry career and her divorce settlement from Robert Herjavec.
5. Where is Diane Plese now and what is she doing today?
Diane Plese currently lives in Toronto, Canada, where she continues working as an optometrist while maintaining a private life completely away from social media and public attention.
Conclusion
Diane Plese’s story proves that real success doesn’t always come with a microphone and a camera crew. While Robert Herjavec built a global business empire and became a household name through Shark Tank, Diane quietly built something equally valuable — a respected optometry career, a strong family, and a personal identity that never depended on anyone else’s fame. Her journey from a Croatian immigrant family in Parkdale, Toronto, to becoming one of Canada’s most talked-about yet least-seen public figures is a masterclass in living life on your own terms.
What truly sets Diane Plese apart isn’t the $25 million divorce settlement or her connection to a celebrity ex-husband — it’s the grace with which she has handled every chapter of her life. She raised three accomplished children, Brendan Herjavec, Skye Herjavec, and Caprice Herjavec, who have each carved out successful careers of their own without leaning on the family name. She supported Robert Herjavec through the lean early years of his cybersecurity business, weathered a very public divorce without losing her dignity, and returned to her optometry practice with renewed purpose. That kind of resilience can’t be bought or faked.