While Dan Katz has built his media empire on over-sharing his sports 'takes', there is little known about Dan's personal life.
Millions of listeners use the Pardon My Take podcast to listen to 'Big Cat' and get his opinions on football, bets, and internet culture, however once Dan turns off the microphone and stops recording an episode, there is a specific wall created that only a few people have ever breached.
One of the questions that is continually searched for by fans of Dan is "who is the woman behind 'Big Cat'?" and the question about who Dan's wife is or what he has in terms of his family tree is a huge point of interest for most listeners.
The problem with content farms
Like most content farms, low-quality, poorly sourced content farms have taken the opportunity to create content about Dan's wife and family, where most of it is speculative and inaccurate.
In addition to that, most of the content about Dan's family is compiled by other content farms via copying and pasting and the use of algorithms on older sites.
When researching Dan's family and his family tree, the lack of correlation between the information contained in most digital publications is substantial.
Almost all of the information about Dan's family has been created from speculation and misinformation and the misinformation contained in many articles about Dan's family include misstatements about the timeline of Dan's children, his wife, or 'Lady Cat'.
To sum up, the majority of the articles about Dan's family do not contain correct information about Dan's family and are mostly speculative.
The three children Dan has are four; however, verified timelines by Dan do not support the four children.
Dan has children and they all have names and the only name associated with them is Janet.
The mystery of Stephanie Maloney
The name Stephanie Maloney is often linked with Dan's partner but no definitive link has been created to link Stephanie Maloney to Dan by the statements Dan has made on-air or in print.
Likewise, the identification of Dan's partner has not been made by Dan, and the title of "Wife" is purely speculative by those trying to make the connection and is not supported by any of Dan's on-air or print statements.
While he has never outright confirmed that he and his partner (whom many think of as his "wife") are married, he has always used terms that create ambiguity as to his actual legal relationship status with the woman identified as Stephanie Maloney (the name corresponding with the Twitter handle @stephmaloney).
Analyzing the digital landscape
Through a keyword analysis, we were able to find an interesting network of websites that appear to consist only of low-quality content and duplicate and republish the same unverified information.
In doing a search for the name of his partner (which, based on our previous research, we believe is Stephanie Maloney), there are literally hundreds of websites that contain the same paragraphs with no difference at all, and no competent journalism whatsoever.
Our study of this area has identified a number of different content farms that control the narrative surrounding Dan Katz and Stephanie Maloney.
These content farms are primarily made up of generic and international news aggregation and overall Celebrity Directory websites; however, many legitimate Sports Publications (such as Sporting News) are not covering Dan Katz and Stephanie Maloney as they are respecting these individuals' right to privacy.
Why legitimate media stays quiet
Legitimate media companies do not publish articles regarding the private lives of their talent without the express consent of such individuals.
The lack of this ethical standard creates a near insurmountable gap between what the legitimate media publishes and what the content farms publish.
Therefore, when there are no legitimate sources reporting on the lives of Dan Katz and Stephanie Maloney, content farms exploit this opportunity by gathering information from the internet, aggregating it into one article, and then compiling it into multiple search-optimized articles by repeating the names of Dan Katz and Stephanie Maloney over and over.
The identity gap
The name "Stephanie Maloney" has been repeatedly mentioned in the content that is created by these content farms, with many of these sites listing her as a "law practitioner" or "legal professional."
Unfortunately, finding any credible sources linking the identity of Stephanie Maloney with Dan Katz is extremely difficult.
To date, there is no way to confirm that her LinkedIn profile has any connection to the Barstool Sports Network, and Dan Katz has never confirmed this name in any media outlets (including his Twitter account, the Barstool Sports blog, or the Pardon My Take podcast).
The only nickname used to refer to Dan Katz's significant other within the podcast community is the term "Lady Cat," which demonstrates respect and allows the podcast community to acknowledge his family while protecting their anonymity.
From the loving "Lady Cat" to an authentic legal expert seems like a big jump, which is why there is such a leap of faith required that cannot be confirmed by any primary source.
Check the facts
When a well-known public figure goes out of their way to hide their family, there is an information void, and to try to fill it, gossip websites will make up anything.
The fake Napa Valley wedding
Out of all the many fabrications regarding Katz, one of the most persistent is the many reports of being married on June 15, 2018, in Napa Valley, California.
The truth is that all of these reports are false.
Searching for the root of this information leads back to one obscure blog with no source that dozens of other websites copied and re-published.
There is no guest list, no posted photo tags, and no supporting statements from any Barstool Sports co-workers concerning this non-existent wedding ceremony.
Additionally, over 95 per cent of the websites on the first page listing her correctly identify her as his legal wife with no evidence.
The number of children incorrectly listed
Another example of monumental misrepresentation in celebrity profiles on the web is the number of children attributed to Katz.
Many of the websites that claim Katz has two children, erroneously, by his bio, now have three children.
Katz has three verified children, according to Wikipedia.
However, the most prominent evidence of this information comes from Katz's Twitter account.
On the date of the birth of his first child (a boy), Katz posted a message on Twitter announcing the event and mentioned that he was crying in the delivery room.
A daughter followed his son, born in May 2021, and a third child was born in May 2023.
The fewest number of sources, recognized as failing to incorporate the 2023 version, are still utilizing outdated templates and have not acknowledged or monitored through the course of time.
The current level of privacy within the world of top-level sports media is something that reaches extreme levels.
That is to say, that many fans develop extreme parasocial relationships with their favorite athletes, and may believe they know Big Cat because he speaks directly into their ears, three times a week and for hours on end.
Therefore, this would be the ultimate imperative of Big Cats' presence.
Big Cat is a creation; a character.
He is a guy that has a severe gambling addiction, and most of the time, is stressed out of his mind.
He is someone who is motivated by both the bitterness of a bad week during a game, and the feeling and excitement he gets from a successful bet.
Dan Katz, on the other hand, is a family man from Chicago with three children.
The need to separate these two worlds helps Dan in keeping the insanity of the internet out of his family.
While Dan has completed the task for many people of having kids having their faces on Instagram, Dan does not post his kids on Instagram.
Furthermore, he does not have the names of his children on the podcast.
Most influencers in the past have monetized their kids and typically have secured brand sponsors to promote their families' products.
This includes children clothing lines and making their wives into a secondary source of revenue.
Katz has made a conscious decision to avoid this model altogether, and has created a very strict firewall to keep the normalcy of his family intact.
When understanding Katz's level of privacy, it is important to recognize the culture in which Katz works in; Barstool Sports was built around the concept of transparency often portrayed on reality television.
Those in the Barstool Sports organization form relationships with one another, often date one another; fight one another; and, many times take their personal lives and create content that is monetized on a very large scale.
Being at the top of Barstool and keeping a family out of sight requires extraordinary foresight.
Katz began making it clear that his private life would not be used for Barstool-related content.
His colleagues respect this separation, and as a result, there aren’t any leaks from his co-workers regarding Lady Cat during live shows.
His internal respect protects him from all leaks.
Why do people still speculate?
People don’t simply stop being curious about a famous person because that person asks for privacy; rather, their curiosity grows even greater.
The less exposure Katz has, the more people want to find out information about him.
Podcast episodes give clues
The audience is experienced in catching things that people say on the podcasts.
The audience takes the little bits of information that Katz provides during the show about what he did on weekends and when he had crazy mornings with his kids, and they examine that information and try to figure out what it means.
These little glimpses into his private life are the only proof they have.
Katz frequently discusses how worn out he is from being a parent, and when he talks about all the moving parts in his home as he tries to watch multiple football games on TV, it’s easy for the audience to empathize, as most of the audience is similar in age and has young children who keep them busy.
However, none of these things have specific identifying characteristics.
Katz can maintain his boundary.
The overall truth
The internet wants to place him into a category, but the simple truth exists once you eliminate all the fake SEO articles.
Dan Katz is in a long-term committed relationship with a woman commonly referred to by his fanbase as Lady Cat.
Dan Katz is associated with the name Stephanie Maloney (though Katz himself has not confirmed this) because they have 3 children (2019-2023) together and were not part of the unsuspected Napa Valley wedding leak.
Other than that, there is nothing serious to report.
The only thing to understand about Dan Katz is his intention to maintain a strict separation between his family life and his celebrity status as a Barstool employee.
Most frequently asked questions
Who is Lady Cat?
Lady Cat is a nickname for Dan Katz's long-time girlfriend that Pardon My Take fans use affectionately.
It has become a respectful placeholder fans can use to discuss his partner without knowing her identity or what she does for a living.
Is Stephanie Maloney married to Dan Katz?
There is no public confirmation of any legal marriage between the two.
There have been many listings in unverified directories of Stephanie as Dan's wife, but Dan has yet to confirm a marriage publicly.
And no legitimate primary source has ever authenticated the existence of marriage documents for Dan Katz and Stephanie Maloney.
How many children does Big Cat have?
Big Cat has 3 kids.
His first son was born in June 2019; a daughter followed in May 2021; and Big Cat's third child was born in May 2023.
Claims of Big Cat only having 2 kids are outdated and incorrect.
Where are the pictures of Big Cat's family?
Katz places an extreme emphasis on privacy between his family's pictures, names, etc., and his status as a public figure within the Barstool arena.
He intentionally chooses to not share any pictures/names of his partner or children for their protection against the consistent parasocial attention that comes with his level of fame.
