Delores Nowzaradan: the verified story of Dr. Now’s ex-wife
Delores Nowzaradan, born Delores McRedmond, married surgeon Younan Nowzaradan in 1975. They had three children. She petitioned for divorce in 2002, and it was finalised in 2004, ending a marriage of nearly three decades.
Those facts come from court records. Almost everything else published about her does not.
There is also a connection between her and her ex-husband’s fame that the profiles competing for this search rarely mention, and it runs through her son.
Quick facts
| Status | |
|---|---|
| Maiden name | Delores McRedmond. Confirmed. |
| Married | Younan Nowzaradan, 1975. Confirmed by court record. |
| Divorce petitioned | 2002. Confirmed. |
| Divorce finalised | 2004. Confirmed. |
| Length of marriage | About 27 years |
| Children | Three: Jonathan, and two daughters |
| Birth date | Unverified. Sources give conflicting years. |
| Occupation | Unverified. Sources conflict badly. |
| Public statements | None on record |
What the court record confirms
The reliable foundation for this profile is a Texas court file, cited in her ex-husband’s Wikipedia entry.
It establishes four things:
- Younan Nowzaradan married Delores McRedmond in 1975.
- They had three children together.
- Delores petitioned for divorce in 2002.
- The divorce was finalised in 2004.
That two-year gap between the petition and the decree resolves a contradiction you will see repeatedly online, where some sites give the divorce year as 2002 and others as 2004. Both dates are real. They mark different stages of the same case.
The 1975 marriage
They married in 1975. Younan Nowzaradan was then a surgeon in his early thirties, trained at the University of Tehran and fresh from a fellowship at the Texas Heart Institute in Houston. He was decades away from television.
For the 27 years that followed, Delores raised their children while he built a bariatric and vascular surgery practice in Houston. She never appeared on his shows, never gave an interview, and has never spoken publicly about the marriage.
Their three children
Jonathan Nowzaradan
Her son Jonathan was born in 1978 and is the most publicly documented of the three by a wide margin.
He founded the production company Megalomedia in Austin in 2003. Its first release was a documentary about a woman seeking bariatric surgery, a case his father had taken on. The film drew national attention, and Megalomedia followed it with a six-episode series called Last Chance to Live.
That series became My 600-lb Life, which premiered on TLC in February 2012 and ran for thirteen seasons and 152 episodes before ending in February 2025. Jonathan created it, executive produced it, and directed episodes of the spin-off. He also created The 6000 lb Diaries with Dr. Now, which began on Lifetime in January 2025.
His other credits include Shipping Wars and Quints by Surprise, neither connected to his father.
Her daughters
Delores has two daughters. Reporting on their names is inconsistent, with Jennifer appearing across sources and the second daughter named variously as Jackie or Jessica.
Both work outside the entertainment industry. Neither has sought public attention, and this page will not publish their employers or locations.
The divorce
Delores filed the petition in 2002. The case concluded in 2004.
Several sites report that the filing cited cruel treatment and insupportability. Those are standard grounds under Texas family law rather than unusual claims. It is worth being precise about what they are. They are allegations made in a petition by one party, not findings made by a court. Neither Delores nor Younan Nowzaradan has publicly discussed the case, and no judgment has been reported that establishes any of it as fact.
Claims that she received a specific percentage of the marital estate appear on several sites without any citation. They should not be treated as established.
Neither has remarried.
The detail almost nobody mentions
Here is the part that makes her genuinely interesting, and it is hiding in plain sight.
Dr. Now is famous because of My 600-lb Life. My 600-lb Life exists because Jonathan Nowzaradan founded a production company and put his father on camera. Jonathan is Delores’s son, and she raised him.
The chronology is worth laying out:
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1975 | Delores McRedmond marries Younan Nowzaradan |
| 1978 | Jonathan is born |
| 2002 | Delores petitions for divorce |
| 2003 | Jonathan founds Megalomedia |
| 2004 | The divorce is finalised |
| 2012 | My 600-lb Life premieres on TLC |
The production company that made her ex-husband a household name was founded in the middle of their divorce.
Whatever else is unclear about her, this much is documented. The television career that turned a Houston surgeon into an international figure was built by a child she spent 27 years raising. That is a more substantial legacy than any of the invented biographies give her.
What the internet invented about Delores Nowzaradan
The pages ranking for this name contradict each other on nearly every personal detail. Treat these as unsupported.
| Claim | Problem |
|---|---|
| She worked as a nurse | One site only. Others say secretary, homemaker, or “art worker.” |
| She worked as a secretary | Different site, same absence of any source. |
| Born 20 November 1953 | A precise date with no record behind it. Others say only “mid-1950s.” |
| She was awarded about 70% of marital assets | Attributed to court records but never cited. |
| Detailed accounts of her personality and values | Invented. She has never given an interview. |
| A specific net worth | No financial disclosure exists. |
| Daughters named Jennifer and Jessica | Other reporting gives the second daughter as Jackie. |
The occupation claims are the clearest tell. Four different jobs across four sites, none sourced, is not thin research. It is fabrication.
Delores Nowzaradan’s net worth
No verified figure exists for Delores Nowzaradan’s net worth.
She has no public career, no disclosed assets, and has made no financial disclosure. Figures published for her ex-husband are his, not hers, and the divorce settlement terms have never been reported by a source that names its evidence.
Where she is now
Unknown, and deliberately so.
She has given no interviews in more than twenty years and has never appeared on any programme connected to her family. She has made no public statement about the marriage or the divorce. Sites claiming to know her current city, her hobbies or her state of mind are guessing.
FAQs
Who is Delores Nowzaradan?
The ex-wife of surgeon Younan Nowzaradan, known as Dr. Now, whom she married in 1975.
What was her maiden name?
Delores McRedmond.
When did they divorce?
She petitioned in 2002 and the divorce was finalised in 2004.
How long were they married?
About 27 years.
How many children do they have?
Three: a son, Jonathan, and two daughters.
Who is Jonathan Nowzaradan?
Her son, the founder of Megalomedia and the creator of My 600-lb Life.
Has Dr. Now remarried?
No. Neither he nor Delores has remarried.
What did Delores Nowzaradan do for a living?
No reliable source establishes this. Four different occupations circulate online.
What is her net worth?
No figure has ever been documented.
The short version
Delores McRedmond married a Houston surgeon in 1975, raised three children over 27 years, filed for divorce in 2002 and has said nothing publicly since.
The competing profiles fill that outline with a nursing career, a secretarial career, a birth date and a settlement percentage, none of which anyone can source. The one thing genuinely worth knowing about her is the thing they skip. Her son built the show that made her ex-husband famous, and he founded the company that did it the year their marriage was ending.
JacksonPadilla is a writer at Around Celebrities, covering celebrity families, relationships, biographies, and the stories behind the stars. With a focus on clear and engaging storytelling, Kole helps readers discover the people and connections beyond the spotlight.
