Dan Katz’s Wife: He Has Never Actually Named Her
Published on: October 17, 2026
Written By
Faye Smith
Reviewed By
Richard Dennis
A man who has spent a decade talking into a microphone for several hours a day has said almost nothing about the person he goes home to. That has not stopped a name from circulating as though he had.
Dan Katz has never publicly identified his wife. He has not named her, confirmed a wedding, or shared a wedding photograph, and no sourced record of her identity exists.
Who Is Dan Katz’s Wife?
Nobody outside his circle can say for certain. The Barstool Sports host known as Big Cat keeps his home life almost entirely off his output, which is unusual for a podcaster whose whole format is unfiltered personal talk.
What he has acknowledged is that he is a father. Beyond that, the woman at the centre of the Dan Katz wife question has never been named by him, by Barstool, or by anyone reporting on him with a byline.
Dan Katz: Quick Facts
| Wife’s identity | Never publicly confirmed |
|---|---|
| Marriage date | Not publicly confirmed |
| Children | Three, reported |
| Full name | Daniel Katz |
| Known as | Big Cat |
| Age | 41 |
| Date of birth | January 30, 1985 |
| Star sign | Aquarius |
| Born in | Newton, Massachusetts |
| Education | University of Wisconsin-Madison |
| Based in | Chicago, since 2007 |
| Joined Barstool | 2012 |
| Pardon My Take | Launched February 2016 with PFT Commenter |
| Current role | Head of Barstool’s Chicago office |
| Other shows | The Yak, Wake Up Barstool, Barstool College Football Show |
| Book | Pardon My Book, HarperCollins, 2026 |
| Dog | Stella, adopted from PAWS Chicago |
Where the Name Stephanie Maloney Came From
The name attached to him almost everywhere is Stephanie Maloney, sometimes written as Stephanie Maloney Katz. It is stated as established fact nearly everywhere the question is asked online.
Nowhere does it come with an origin. There is no interview, no announcement, no public record and no byline attached to it, and the name does not appear in his own encyclopedia entry, which is detailed enough to record the shelter he adopted his dog from.
Other first names circulate alongside it in search, which is the clearest sign that nothing has settled. A name that is genuinely on the record does not acquire competing versions.
The Details Do Not Hold Together
The supporting facts published about her contradict each other at almost every point. Laid side by side, the pattern is hard to miss.
Six Details That Do Not Match
| Detail | What is published |
|---|---|
| Her name | Stephanie Maloney is the name usually published, though other first names also circulate |
| Her birthplace | Given as Chicago on some pages and New York City on others |
| Her career | Given as law, acting, or business and communications |
| How they met | Given as a 2014 birthday party, or a Barstool event |
| The wedding year | Given as 2016, or left out entirely |
| Number of children | Given as one, two or three |
Six details, and every one of them has at least two versions. A real biography does not work like that, because a sourced fact has one value and keeps it.
The career claim is the most telling. She is described as a lawyer on some pages and as an actress or a communications professional on others, and those are not variations on a theme, they are three different people.
Is Dan Katz Married?
He is a father of three, and he has spoken on air about being a parent. A formal confirmation of a marriage, with a date attached, is not on the public record.
That distinction matters more than it sounds. Plenty of long-term partners are described as spouses in casual speech, and the absence of a confirmed wedding is not evidence of anything except that he has not discussed it.
What is clear is the choice behind it. A host who talks freely about almost everything else has drawn a line around this specific subject and kept it there for a decade.
The discipline is the unusual part. Barstool’s whole model runs on personal disclosure, and most of its personalities have partners who appear on camera, run their own accounts or become characters in the shows. He has kept his household outside that entirely.
It is also consistent. There has been no soft launch, no anniversary post, no appearance at a company event, across fourteen years of working for a company built on oversharing.
Dan Katz’s Kids
He has three children, according to his encyclopedia entry, and he has said he wants to scale back his Barstool workload to spend more time with them. That is the fullest statement about his family life he has made publicly.
Their names have not been published and no ages are on the record. Pages giving a different number, usually one or two, are working from older material that was never updated.
What He Has Said About His Family
The little he has offered has been about his own priorities rather than about the people involved. He has spoken about wanting to cut back his Barstool workload so he can spend more time with his children.
That is a meaningful statement from someone whose output has only expanded, and it is the closest he comes to discussing his home life in public. He names nobody and describes nothing.
Everything else attributed to him on the subject is inference. A podcaster mentioning fatherhood in passing is not the same as a podcaster discussing his marriage, and the gap between those two things is where the invented detail has grown.
Who Is Dan Katz?
He is 41 years old, born on January 30, 1985, which makes him an Aquarius. His full name is Daniel Katz, and he has gone by Big Cat for his entire public career.
He co-hosts Pardon My Take, the sports podcast he launched with PFT Commenter in February 2016 after the two connected on Twitter. It became one of the most-listened sports podcasts in the United States and has carried him into television work since.
The format is largely satirical, built on running jokes and recurring bits rather than analysis, and it releases video alongside audio under the PMTV banner. Its reach is what makes the privacy around his family notable, since a show that size usually drags everything near it into public view.
He is also head of Barstool’s Chicago office, which opened in 2023 after a twenty million dollar build-out. Alongside that he co-hosts the daily panel show The Yak, which runs on YouTube.
From Newton to Chicago
He was born in Newton, Massachusetts, just outside Boston, and that fact caused him more trouble than it should have. He studied at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and moved to Chicago in 2007, shortly after graduating.
For years he let the Boston part slide. His on-air persona is built on Chicago sports, and a Massachusetts childhood sat awkwardly against it, so he downplayed it rather than correcting the impression.
It came out eventually, when a former Barstool colleague made the point publicly, and Katz addressed it himself in a Barstool article in January 2025. Owning it after the fact is a more interesting detail about him than most of what gets written about his private life.
The Barstool Career
He joined Barstool in 2012, working part-time at first. Fourteen years later he runs one of its offices and anchors its biggest podcast.
The output beyond Pardon My Take is substantial. He makes weekly call-ins to ESPN 1000 in Chicago, co-hosted The Corp with Alex Rodriguez from December 2018, joined the Tuesday lineup of Wake Up Barstool on FS1 in 2025, and contributes to FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff and the Barstool College Football Show. Pardon My Book is due from HarperCollins.
There is a charitable thread running through it too. He launched a coffee brand with Barstool’s owners in November 2022, and has reportedly donated over $200,000 to PAWS Chicago, the shelter where he adopted his dog Stella.
The Other Dan Katz
A second public figure with the same name turns up in these searches, and the two are entirely unrelated. Daniel Scott Katz, born in December 1987, is an American lawyer who has served as first deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund since October 2025.
He previously worked as chief of staff to the United States Treasury Secretary and briefly as acting Deputy Secretary of the Treasury. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Yale and a law degree from New York University.
Anyone searching for a Treasury or IMF connection is looking for him rather than for the podcaster. The two share a name and nothing else.
What Can Be Confirmed
Eight things here are solid. He is 41, born January 30, 1985 in Newton, Massachusetts, he studied at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, moved to Chicago in 2007, joined Barstool in 2012, launched Pardon My Take in February 2016, runs Barstool’s Chicago office, and has three children.
Three are not. His wife has never been publicly named, no marriage date exists on the record, and his children’s names have not been published. That gap between a loud public career and a closed private life shows up elsewhere too, including in the profile of Bert Girigorie, where a marriage to a famous name left almost no documentary trace of the person behind it.
Frequently Asked Questions
These cover the questions asked alongside his name. Where nothing has been confirmed, that is stated rather than filled in with a guess.
Who is Dan Katz’s wife?
She has never been publicly identified. The Barstool host has not named a spouse, confirmed a wedding or shared a wedding photograph, and no sourced record of her identity exists.
Is Stephanie Maloney Dan Katz’s wife?
That name circulates widely but has never been sourced. It appears online without an interview, announcement or record behind it, and the supporting details attached to it contradict each other.
Is Dan Katz married?
He is a father of three and has spoken about parenting on his podcast. A marriage with a confirmed date is not on the public record, and he has not discussed his relationship status directly.
How many kids does Dan Katz have?
Three. He has said he wants to reduce his Barstool workload to spend more time with them. Their names have not been published.
How old is Dan Katz?
He is 41. Daniel Katz was born on January 30, 1985, which makes him an Aquarius, and he turns 42 in January 2027.
What is Big Cat’s real name?
Daniel Katz. Big Cat is the name he has used throughout his Barstool Sports career.
Where is Dan Katz from?
Newton, Massachusetts, just outside Boston. He moved to Chicago in 2007 after graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Where did Dan Katz go to college?
The University of Wisconsin-Madison. He relocated to Chicago shortly after finishing his degree.
When did Dan Katz join Barstool Sports?
In 2012, initially part-time. He now heads the company’s Chicago office, which opened in 2023.
When did Pardon My Take start?
February 2016. Katz launched it with PFT Commenter after the two connected on Twitter, and it became one of the most popular sports podcasts in the United States.
Is Dan Katz the same person as the Treasury official?
No. Daniel Scott Katz, born in December 1987, is a lawyer who has been first deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund since October 2025. He is unrelated to the Barstool host.
Does Dan Katz talk about his family on his podcast?
Rarely. He has acknowledged being a parent and has said he wants more time with his children, but he keeps his wife and family almost entirely out of his output.
