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Who Is Ronald Acuna Jr.’s Wife, Maria Laborde? Everything to Know About the NL MVP’s Better Half

Published 11/17/2023, 12:00 PM EST

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2023 NL MVP Ronald Acuna Jr. might be a big name on the Atlanta Braves’ gaming front, but little is known about his life off the field. Acuna won the 2023 National League MVP award just a few hours ago; however, his accomplishments reach way further beyond the realms of the diamond. The 3x Silver Slugger and his partner, Maria Laborde, have lived a beautiful life together that they have been cultivating for the last couple of years. Hence, the story of the slugger and his wife, whom he gifted a grand slam on their wedding night, deserves to be known by the world.

Their story started with the good old meddling of friends, and it has been thriving ever since. This star slugger entered marital bliss in August of this year, tying the knot with his wife, Maria Laborde. Their union wasn’t a sudden development; in fact, the couple had a longstanding commitment, and interestingly, they are also parents to two children.

Who is NL MVP Ronald Acuna Jr.’s wife?

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Ronaldo Acuna Jr.’s wife, Maria Laborde Acuna, was born to parents Michel and Astrid Gonzalez de Laborde in 2000. She has three siblings: Nerea, Ainhoa, and Emilio Laborde. The 5-foot-seven-inch model hails from Venezuela, the same country as her beau. Maria was a star student at the Liceo Perez Bonalde High School in the Ocumare del Tuy city of Miranda, Venezuela. She went to the Universidad Central de Venezuela to complete her studies in social communications. Maria identifies as a Christian of Hispanic descent.

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Maria likes to stay focused on maintaining her physique by engaging in a rigorous workout routine every day. She likes to incorporate a healthy diet into her everyday consumption, preferring to avoid junk food. Much like what her profession demands of her, she usually dresses casually but likes to turn it up for special events. Maria has a butterfly tattoo on her right shoulder and a piercing on her belly button. She doesn’t like using too much makeup. The model seems to have a name for herself, along with many beautiful memories of her own, but the ones she made with Ronald don’t seem to fall too far behind.

How long the two have been together: A timeline

Ronaldo Acuna Jr. met Maria through a couple of mutual friends in 2019, and they hit it off almost immediately. The couple exchanged rings in January of this year; they married in a private ceremony at the last minute on August 31, 2023. They were in a hurry to make things official as his wife only had a three-month visitor’s visa, and the couple did not want to stay apart during the rest of the baseball season.

In Fox News coverage, Ronald revealed that they always meant to keep the ceremony small; he stated, “I didn’t mention anything to anybody; it’s something that I’ve had planned out weeks ahead.” For her wedding gift, Ronald gifted Maria a Grand Slam just a few hours after their marriage, while simultaneously securing the place of being the only slugger in MLB history to hit 30 homers and 60 stolen bases in a single season.

Much like the popular instances of “athlete marries athlete” in the sports world, one can’t help but ponder whether Acuna’s wife shares the athletic prowess like her husband.

Is she also an athlete like Ronald Acuna Jr.? If not, what’s her profession?

Although Maria does not have an athletic background like Ronald, she is famous in her own right. Maria Laborde is an Instagram model who emerged after winning the Miss Carabobo fashion contest in her home state, Carabobo. As of today, she has 120,000 Instagram followers. She enrolled in various beauty pageant contests during her school days, which eventually led her to win Miss Teen Carabobo in 2015.

Maria went on to represent Carabobo in the national Miss Teen Venezuela competition before applying for college. She started modeling at an early age and has worked with brands like Forever 21, Zara, Mango, and H&M, among others. Some of her famous collaborations have been with photographer Annie Leibovitz. Dreshare estimates Maria’s net worth to be around $500,000 as of 2023.

Their parenthood journey so far

The beautiful couple has two beautiful babies together. Their eldest son, Ronald Daniel Acuña Laborde, was born in September 2020. He was named after his father, and he’s 3 years old. However, his 1-year-old brother, Jamal Mitchell Acuna, was named after Ronald’s favorite basketball player, Jamal Crawford. The family lives together in a craftsman-style two-story home in Marietta, Georgia, along with their two dogs.

Both Ronald and Jamal were present there during their father’s record-breaking grand slam score. In Ronald Acuna Jr.’s words, the memory he made with them was “really an incredible moment.” Acuna says that both brothers are really alike and like to wait at the door for him to come back home with open arms after each of his games.

“I think it just gives me a sense of joy as well. Regardless of how bad of a day it was, to be able to just go there and enjoy that time with your sons is just something really special,” Ronald once mused to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

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The couple always wanted kids from an early age, and they are making good with their parenthood responsibilities. Per former Braves’ catcher Eddie Pérez, the man knows what he’s doing and how it affects the children back in his homeland. “I think he wants to teach (his) kids the right thing,” Pérez said, and Acuna’s teammates couldn’t agree more.

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Ronald Acuna Jr. and his wife, Maria Laborde, seem to have the flavor of consistency going on in their lives, both on and off the diamond. They have indulged in philanthropic endeavors in the past, and they plan to continue them. With the star’s recent MVP win, fans can only expect to bring more of that grit and fire on the field—El Abusador style!

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Written by:

Shrabana Sengupta

676Articles

One take at a time

Shrabana Sengupta, a budding MLB writer for EssentiallySports, has been a fan of the New York Yankees since their school days. In their adolescence, they got to know about the sport from one of the beloved Friends characters, Joey. Their passion blossomed into a reserve of knowledge within the realms of MLB, and with the dynamic evolution of the game, they discovered their true vocation while stumbling upon EssentiallySports, which served as a major catalyst for their entry into the field of sports entertainment journalism.
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Edited by:

Deepanshi Bajaj