Disgraced former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's top aide Melissa DeRosa posted a single selfie to ring in her 39th birthday weeks before she announced her divorce and months after quitting her post in the Cuomo administration because she was tired of defending the sex pest's scandals.
DeRosa - who was dubbed a 'mean girl' by Cuomo - confirmed her split from her husband earlier this week after a trying year in which she attempted to defend the ousted three-term governor from sexual harassment allegations and helped cover up the true death toll at New York nursing homes.
However, DeRosa's closeness to her 63-year-old boss always seemed apparent at an intimate dinner in 2016 that fueled rumors of a possible deeper connection - less than two weeks after she tied the not.
Photos obtained by DailyMail.com showed the couple seated closely in a booth at Manhattan's Knickerbocker Bar & Grill on September 8, 2016, where DeRosa looked adoringly at her boss and flashed her brand-new wedding ring.
Photos taken in September 2016 showed Cuomo, 63, getting cozy with his closest aide DeRosa while at dinner Knickerbocker Bar and Grill in lower Manhattan
Cuomo, who was still living with his then-girlfriend and celebrity chef Sandra Lee, appeared close to DeRoa during an intimate dinner just 12 days after her marriage
Her marriage to Uber executive Matthew Wing has fallen apart just five years later.
But the estranged couple appear to have been living separate lives leading up to the announcement. Last month, DeRosa rang in her birthday with a sexy selfie posted from her sister's house in Cape Cod, sources told the New York Post.
She posted a series of photos with one captioned 'Ok 39, let's do this.'
The other photos from the coastal home show Cuomo's former secretary spending some presumably much-needed time with family, including her sister Jessica Davos and two nieces.
The images of her in the sunshine and of Cape Cod's calm waters and rocky shorelines show a lifestyle that appears to be a ways away from the scandal that surrounded the Cuomo administration.
DeRosa said she and Wing are planning to get a divorce, though they have yet to start the filing in New York state.
The news comes at the same time the couple put their $2.59million Brooklyn Heights home up for sale after living apart for a year following what she called an 'emotionally and mentally trying' two years.
DeRosa rang in her birthday with a sexy selfie she posted to Twitter from Cape Cod captioned: 'Ok 39, let's do this' a month after resigning from her position as former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's secretary and a month before announcing her divorce from her husband of five years
DeRosa served as Secretary to the Governor of the State of New York - the most powerful appointed official in the state. She was by Cuomo's side at virtually all his daily press conferences on the Covid-19 pandemic that captured the nation's attention
Former NY Governor Andrew Cuomo's former aide and fiercest defender Melissa DeRosa has confirmed her split from her Uber executive husband Matthew Wing (pictured together left and right) after five years of marriage as the pair's swanky NYC apartment hits the market for $2.59million
DeRosa 'has been staying at her sister's house in Cape Cod' since resigning from her position in August. A series of photos she posted from the coastal home show the former secretary spending some presumably much-needed time with family, including her sister Jessica Davos (left) and two nieces (right)
DeRosa has reportedly been looking to move back to Manhattan after a 'never ending summer' in Cape Cod and has her eye on the Greenwich Village neighborhood
Yet as the summer comes to an end DeRosa has reportedly been looking to move back to Manhattan and has her eye on New York's Greenwich Village after an eventful last few years.
The pair met in 2013 while working in Cuomo's communications office. She rose to become Cuomo's most trusted aide and was a fixture at his Emmy-winning daily Covid-19 press briefings.
But behind the scenes, she worked to to limit the damage of sexual harassment allegations by 11 women against the three-term governor, according to a report published by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
In efforts to diffuse another scandal, she later admitted Cuomo's administration had downplayed the number of nursing home Covid deaths.
Despite the photos of the pair cozied up at dinner and the intense pressures of scandal, DeRosa and her soon-to-be ex-husband are blaming Covid for the breakdown of their marriage, the Post reported.
'They simply grew apart, and they have been living apart for a year,' a friend told the Post.
'Their marriage broke down over time, and it was exacerbated during Covid, when they wound up in separate places. … Melissa spent time in Albany, and Matt works for Uber and spent some time in San Francisco,' the source added.
On August 8 - less than a week after James's damning report - DeRosa resigned from her $200,000-plus-a-year post as Cuomo's most powerful aide, saying 'the past two years have been emotionally and mentally trying'.
A day later she made a hush-hush, dressed-down visit to the New York Governor's mansion in the hours between her resignation and his. Cuomo's office director Stephanie Benton picked DeRosa up from her parents' home and drove her to the mansion, where she stayed for four hours.
Sources said DeRosa quit because she realized the governor - who had previously steadfastly refused to resign - had no future in the job following the sex pest scandal. She was reportedly no longer willing to stand up for him in public.
'It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve the people of New York for the past 10 years,' DeRosa said in a statement.
'New Yorkers' resilience, strength and optimism through the most difficult times has inspired me every day... I am forever grateful for the opportunity to have worked with such talented and committed colleagues,' she added.
Tellingly, DeRosa's statement did not make a single reference to Cuomo in her resignation statement.
Following their split the pair has put their three-bedroom, two-bathroom Brooklyn Heights duplex on the market for $2.59million
The couple purchased the Brooklyn Heights home for $2.2million shortly after marrying in 2016
'The Brooklyn house was often empty. But they remain friends,' a source said of the pair's Brooklyn home, which is now up for grabs
DeRosa and her husband reportedly did not spend any time in their Brooklyn duplex (pictured)
Despite the intense pressures of scandal, DeRosa and her soon-to-be ex-husband are blaming Covid for the breakdown of their marriage but said in a joint statement: 'Despite the fact that this chapter in our lives is ending, we are and always will be very close friends'
Cuomo resigned in New York City two weeks later and DeRosa, in her final act of loyalty, was seen leaving with Cuomo and his two daughters.
Months later DeRosa and Wing confirmed rumors of their divorce in a joint statement that read: 'Despite the fact that this chapter in our lives is ending, we are and always will be very close friends.'
Following their split the pair has put their three-bedroom, two-bathroom Brooklyn Heights duplex on the market for $2.59million, which they purchased for $2.2million shortly after marrying in 2016, the Post reported.
'The Brooklyn house was often empty. But they remain friends,' a source told the Post.
The couple began discussing divorce in the late spring after 'they decided that the marriage had run its course,' and they worked out an agreement over the summer. There are currently no online court records indicating a divorce filing in New York state, the Post reported.
In the meantime the couple is still living apart and DeRosa appears to be spending lots of time with family while cooped up at her sister's Cape Cod home. It's unclear where Wing has been living or if he is still in California.
Yet the couple has been sure to lawyer up. DeRosa is being represented by famed lawyer Robert S Cohen - who has represented Melinda Gates - and Wing is being represented by lawyer Sheila Riesel - who has appeared before the US Supreme Court three times, the Post reported.
DailyMail.com spotted a dressed down Melissa DeRosa visiting the Governor's mansion less than 24 hours after she quit as Cuomo's top aide
A day after DeRosa's resignation Cuomo was joined by two of his daughters Michaela, 23, and Mariah, 26 (center), and DeRosa (far left)
The news of the divorce comes after DeRosa's former boss resigned from office in August following revelations about his alleged sexual harassment and criticism about the way he insisted - in the early months of the pandemic - that Covid-positive nursing home residents must be allowed to return to the homes once they had recovered.
