Steve McMichael #76 of the Chicago Bears during a game on October 31,1993 in Green Bay, Wisconsin ; Misty McMichael poses with the bronze bust of Steve McMichael during the 2024 Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony on August 03, 2024 in Canton, Ohio. Photo:
Jonathan Daniel/Getty ; Nick Cammett/Getty
Steve McMichael‘s wife Misty McMichael was with him until the end.
The Chicago Bears Hall of Famer died on April 23, sports anchor Jarrett Payton announced the news via X.
“With deep sorrow, I share that Steve McMichael passed at 5:28 PM after a brave fight with #ALS, surrounded by loved ones,” Payton wrote. “I’m grateful to have been with him in his final moments. Please keep Steve and his family your prayers. 🙏🏽 #Bears.”
McMichael died just hours after his wife, Misty, told Fox 32 Chicago that he would be entering hospice care.
McMichael — who, in addition to his NFL career, was well-known for becoming a professional wrestler and appearing on Chicago sports radio — stepped back from public life following his diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 2021. He relied on the support of Misty in the years since.
The couple first met in 1998 and got married three years later. In 2008, they welcomed a daughter, Macy.
So who is Steve McMichael’s wife? Here’s everything to know about Misty McMichael and her relationship with the NFL legend.
Chicago Bears Hall of Famer Steve “Mongo” McMichael at his Mongo McMichaels restaurant on April 25, 2019 in Romeoville, Illinois. Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty
Misty and Steve first met in Austin, Texas, in 1998, when Steve was a WCW wrestler. Per ESPN, he walked into Pearl’s Oyster bar and sat next to her, saying, “You can’t have me.”
Misty replied, “Who said I wanted you?”
Misty didn’t realize Steve was famous when they first met — he told her that he’d broken his arm and was taking a break from work, but didn’t tell her of his career in sports. She eventually learned of his reputation as “Mongo,” and according to the Mafia Hairdresser podcast, Misty and Steve rarely spent time apart after first meeting.
In 2005, Steve told The Chicago Tribune that before meeting Misty, he was “so jaded, beaten down, sucked dry.”
“But I trusted her with my psyche right off,” he continued. “We had to weed through a lot of crap. She saved my life.”
Misty McMichael gives Steve McMichael’s bust a kiss after his being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on August 3, 2024 in Canton, Ohio. AP Photo/David Dermer
Misty and Steve got engaged the following year in Venice, Italy, since she thought it was the most romantic city in the world, she told the Mafia Hairdresser podcast.
They then got married on March 24, 2001, at the Barton Creek Country Club in Austin.
Misty McMichael speaks during a news conference at the NFL Honors on February 8, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez
Misty and Steve welcomed a daughter, Macy Dale McMichael, in January 2008. Per the Daily Herald, they had been trying to have a baby for two years.
“He’s such a great father,” Misty said of Steve. “He comes right home from practice and goes right to daddy duty.”
Three years earlier, Steve told The Chicago Tribune that he and Misty had discussed having a child.
“When Misty and I talk about the future, we’re mostly talking about having a child, about fatherhood, something I never thought about before,” he said. “If I were to be blessed like that, with being a father, raising that child would be my first priority.”
Misty McMichael holds up her husbands gold jacket during a Football Hall of Fame ceremony on August 2, 2024 in Canton, Ohio. Aaron Josefczyk/UPI/Alamy
In April 2021, Steve announced that he’d been diagnosed with ALS, a progressive neurodegenerative disease.
Per ESPN, Misty acted as her husband’s caretaker alongside a team of nurses. She would check his breathing and feeding tubes, set him up and lay him back, and talk to him. (Steve responded via computer.)
Shortly after his diagnosis, she educated herself on the disease so that she’d know how to care for her husband and reduce the risk of causing harm, she told the Mafia Hairdresser podcast.
It had always been Steve’s dream to enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and, in 2023, he received the call that he was a semifinalist. A few days later, Steve became unwell with pneumonia and then sepsis. After Steve communicated that he’d like to witness his induction, Misty removed his do-not-resuscitate order, per ESPN.
Steve was inducted into the Hall of Fame in February 2024, with Misty standing in for her husband on-stage.
“It’s been a wonderful, bumpy ride, but it’s been an awesome ride,” Misty said, per NBC 5 Chicago. “It’s been amazing. He’s amazing. In football especially, but in everything he does, he’s amazing. He’s the most awesome football player I’ve ever seen. I’m a little bit biased, but y’all can watch the film.”
Misty McMichael throws the ceremonial first pitch at Wrigley Field on June 02, 2022 in Chicago, Illinois. Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty
As well as supporting her husband, Misty has helped to raise ALS awareness.
In 2022, she threw out the first pitch at a Chicago Cubs baseball game on the second annual ALS Day. Over the past few years, she has been was a special guest at a Muscular Dystrophy Association fundraiser, the Les Turner Gala and the Chicago Bears Homecoming.
Former Chicago Bears player Steve McMichael gets a kiss from his wife Misty on April 22, 2021 at their home in Romeoville, Illinois. Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty
Before his April 2025 death, Misty said that Steve would still try to show her affection.
“I know he could hear me and he could respond a little bit,” she told Fox 32 Chicago. “I’d reach out and kiss him and he’d try to kiss me back.”
Misty shared that it was “hard to let him go.”
“But I told him, ‘Babe, there’s another life out there, just hold a spot for me,’ ” she continued.
