She’s there one-time BFF of real housewife of New Jersey Melissa Gorga, though the two fell out of touch over the years. We’re talking about Amber Marchese, the housewife new to the franchise last year. She’s bold, opinionated and married to a man who may or may not think that he is just a little bit above the rest of the housewives and their husbands (as if he is not just like them). She’s the woman who got caught in the middle of everything last season, from the drama surrounding her announcement to Melissa that one of the twins’ husband’s was sleeping with their mother to the fact that Melissa never called her when she was diagnosed with cancer. And while we have the utmost sympathy for her in every single way possible for her battle with breast cancer several years ago, she sure did talk about it a lot. Though her thought is that if she brings the type of awareness needed to young women to get checked out, maybe fewer women would have to talk about cancer – and that we love. The season ended last year with her receiving word from her doctor that she was officially cancer-free for five years.

Unfortunately, that has not remained true as she was recently treated as a surgical patient to have a cancerous tumor removed. We wish her the best of luck, and we hope that her recovery and her treatments are successful and that she is finally able to overcome cancer and live her life with her children and her husband. We don’t know whether or not the show is returning this season, but we do know that there are a few things about Amber Marchese we just didn’t know before, so we thought we’d share them with you.

She’s Young

It seems that more and more women are being diagnosed with cancer at a young age. Amber Marchese was born in 1977, which puts her still two years shy of 40. Most women are not diagnosed with cancer for many more years following 40, but Marchese has been diagnosed twice at this point.

She was Diagnosed in 2009

When she was diagnosed in 2009 with breast cancer, she was only 31-years-old, which is a shocking revelation for all of us that age. She underwent surgery and chemotherapy to remove the cancer, and it was a successful treatment that gave her five more years of being cancer-free.

She’s the Mother of Four

Amber Marchese might be young, but she has four kids. Two are not her own children biologically, but she treats them and raises them as her own. Her two biological children with her husband are Corbin and Isabella, but the kids behave as if they share parents.

She’s been Married a While

When Amber was only 27, she married her husband. Her husband divorced his ex-wife and married Amber in the same year, and there is some speculation that they their relationships overlapped. Though in Amber’s defense, he was allegedly separated when the couple met. Their marriage occurred in 2004.

Net Worth

Amber, alone, is worth $3 million. She has her own business, and it helped her reach her financial success. However, James is worth around $7 million, much of which he’s earned through his career as a Cell Therapeutic sales rep. However, he frequently calls himself a lawyer, saying he was trained as one, though he now owns a mortgage company in New Jersey. There is some speculation that the couple now has an even bigger net worth thanks to a settlement he just received for more than $8 million.

Her Husband is a Professional Whistleblower

When her husband reported his former employer to the Justice Department after discovering that they were defrauding Medicare, he was given $1.6 million from a settlement. Last year he blew the whistle on yet another company and was given an $8.1 million settlement. It’s very unusual for someone to successfully win two whistleblower accusations, but he has. The Justice Department feels that he was connected to at least once of the cases he told on, but they couldn’t prove it.

She’s Educated

Despite the fact that so many people like to imagine that the housewives are a bunch of women who married well so that they could shop, Marchese is not one of them. She’s an educated woman who graduated from Columbia University with a Master’s in Bio-Behavioral Studies/Exercise Physiology. Her desire to continue with her education after receiving her Bachelor’s Degree is something she says she’s always known she would do.

She Owns a Business

Vici Fitness is the business that Amber owns, and it’s a group of personal trainers designed to help improve the lives of others who are in need of her help. The term vici means to “conquer” and Amber chose the term since she feels that she conquers everything that she does in life, and she thought that it was fitting. The fitness company is one she founded out of college, and it’s seen significant success.

She Dreams of Being an Actress

Despite her career, her education and her success in life, she’s got a dream. She wants to be an actress. She’s studied the art, she’s taken classes and she’s even had a few roles in commercials and other short concepts that have helped her realize her dream. She’s hoping that her role on the reality show in Jersey will help her to become even more famous and land her a few more, much bigger roles.

She’s a Philanthropist

As so many young women who are diagnosed with cancer do, she likes to give back and raise awareness for the disease and help those in need. Her main goal with her charitable work is to bring awareness to the fact that many young women think that they are too young to be diagnosed with cancer, but they are not. It’s happening earlier and earlier anymore, and most of her job is to make sure young women are receiving the kind of healthcare they need to survive.

Photo by Getty Images

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