Jennifer Montana (born on July 7, 1958) is an American model, actress, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. She is a wife of Joe Montana, an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League. On September 28, 2020, Jennifer and Joe saved their grandchild from a kidnapping attempt with Jennifer pulling her grandchild out of the kidnapper's hands. ^[19]

As a model and actress, Jennifer appeared in a number of commercials.

Montana has also appeared in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit and films. Most notably she starred as Miss Lisa in the television series Adventures with Kanga Roddy (1998).^[1]

Jennifer Montana married Joe Montana in 1985. The couple has four children together: Alexandra Whitney (b. October 10, 1985), Elizabeth Jean (b. December 20, 1986), Nathaniel "Nate" Joseph (b. October 3, 1989), and Nicholas Alexander (b. April 28, 1992). Both of her sons played football for De La Salle High School. Nate became an undrafted free agent from West Virginia Wesleyan College (after transferring from Notre Dame and the University of Montana), as did Nick, undrafted free agent from Tulane University (having transferred from the University of Washington and Mt. San Antonio College).

Jennifer was totally unaware of Joe Montana’s football success until she met him on a set of a commercial. She recalls:

As Jennifer and Joe continued to spend a lot of time together working closely on set, Joe asked Jennifer out to dinner and Jennifer agreed.

A mere six months into their relationship, Joe proposed to Jennifer.^[12]

After getting the check while on a dinner date, Joe wrote a question on the check for Jennifer: "What would you say if I asked you to spend the rest of your life with me?" Jennifer didn’t have a yes or no answer, as she had never even considered marriage so soon in their relationship.

While the two were out to dinner one night, Joe hired a plane to carry the message "Jen, will you marry me?" This time Jennifer said yes.^[12]

The family placed their $49 million, 500-acre (2.0 km2) estate in Calistoga, California, on sale in 2009, which was reduced to $35 million in January 2012. In 2019, they relisted their California estate at 41% discount, for $28.9 million.^[17]

The estate includes an Italianate villa, guesthouse/art studio, caretakers’ cottage, professional equestrian arena and stables for 30 horses with offices and staff residences.

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The Montanas traveled throughout Italy and France on breaks during Joe’s career as quarterback in the NFL and through his retirement from football and drew inspiration for the home through these trips, with most of the furniture, statuary and landscape ornamentation imported from Europe. These include antique marble floors, window and door surrounds, sinks, fireplaces and 16th-century iron gates. ^[18]

Constructed over a five-year period and completed in 2003, the main European-inspired home has 9,700 square feet of space, three bedrooms, three ensuite baths and one powder room.

A pathway to a bridge over a moat leads to the home’s front doors.

The outdoor landscaping includes groves of ancient Tuscan olive trees that produce 30-60 gallons of olive oil the Montanas had bottled each year, fully grown cypress trees, rose gardens and white table grape vines. There is also a regulation bocci ball terrace and swimming pool, as well as an outdoor kitchen with a Tuscan grill, pizza oven and wine refrigerator near the pool. State-of-the-art technology and security are integrated into the home’s interiors and are hidden from view. ^[18]

The estate also boasts a basketball court that doubles as a tennis court with lights, a professional standard gym, a skeet-shooting range, a fishing pond, two streams used for canoeing and a large equestrian facility with arena and extensive horseback riding trails.

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The two-bed, one-bath guesthouse/art studio has an outdoor jacuzzi, and the caretakers’ cottage also has two beds and two baths.^[18]

On September 28, 2020, Joe Montana and his wife, Jennifer, stopped an intruder from kidnapping their grandchild on Saturday afternoon.

The incident culminated with Jennifer Montana pulling the child out of the intruder's arms.

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The 9-month-old child was sleeping in the living room when a woman entered the Montanas' Malibu, California, house, took the child out of a playpen and held the child in her arms, according to a statement by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. ^[19]

The woman, later identified as 39-year-old Sodsai Dalzell, took the child upstairs, where the Montanas confronted her, the sheriff's department said.

They asked her to give the child back.

She refused.

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"A tussle ensued and Mrs. Montana was able to safely pry the child out of the suspect's arms," the sheriff's department said.

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The woman fled.

Joe Montana was able to flag down sheriff's deputies patrolling the area and tell them what happened.

After a search, deputies found Dalzell in a nearby house and arrested her.

No one was injured.

It wasn't immediately clear if Dalzell has an attorney.

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"Thank you to everyone who has reached out," Joe Montana said on Twitter.

"Scary situation, but thankful that everybody is doing well.

We appreciate respect for our privacy at this time."

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Dalzell was charged with kidnapping and burglary after and was taken into Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood, California on $150,000 bail, with a court date scheduled for Tuesday, September 29, 2020.

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