Bill Higgins and Barbara Corcoran in 2023.Photo:Barbara Corcoran Instagram
Barbara Corcoran Instagram
Barbara Corcoranis married to her “partner in crime,” her husband, Bill Higgins.
In a 2023Instagrampost on their anniversary, Corcoran shared photos of her and Higgins talking about their love story. She wrote that when they first met, Higgins played “hard to get,” but she eventually won him over.
The couple married on Valentine’s Day in 1988 and have two children, son Tom and daughter Kate, together. Higgins also has four children from a previous marriage.
In anInstagrampost on Thanksgiving in 2020, Corcoran posted a photo of her and Higgins and a sweet message.
“What I thought I wanted when I married Bill [more than 30 years ago] was an exciting, sexy guy to travel the world with” she captioned it. “Now long into our marriage, I realize I’ve got the important stuff. A rock solid guy, a close friend, and a great father to our children.”
The fun-loving Corcoran (who has been known to show her personality on social media, from dressing up asBarbieandMartha Stewartto hosting amock funeral for her birthday) has found her match in Higgins, who attends to her comedic whims — and has even joined in on them.
So who is Barbara Corcoran’s husband? Here’s everything to know about Bill Higgins and his relationship to theShark Tankinvestor.
He’s a former Navy captain and FBI agent
Before Higgins met Barbara in the 1980s, he graduated from the U.S. Navy Academy in 1966 and became a special agent with the FBI shortly after, according to an alumni bio on his formerhigh school’s website.
In 1975, he returned to the U.S. Naval Reserves as a captain in charge of training all personnel in the Military Sealift Command, and spent 10 years with the Combined Forces Command in Korea.
Higgins was also a navy captain in operation Desert Storm, he told theNew York Postin 1999. At the time, the outlet reported, Higgins had a home office covered with awards and military citations.
Higgins also worked in real estate, operating his own company in New York, the William F. Higgins Agency, which he sold in 1997.
Corcoran often pays tribute to her husband’s time in the service on social media. On Veterans Day in 2022, she posted a throwback photo onInstagramof Higgins in uniform holding their son and a second photo of her with Higgins in a Navy hat, noting in the caption that his service as a career officer “remains his proudest achievement."
They met at a conference
Bill Higgins and Barbara Corcoran in 2011.Neil Rasmus/BFA/Shutterstock
Neil Rasmus/BFA/Shutterstock
Corcoran and Higgins first crossed paths at a conference in New York, while Higgins was working in real estate and serving in the Navy reserves and Corcoran was already well-known in the real estate world — operating her company The Corcoran Group, which was well on its way to becoming a $6 billion business, perForbes.
Higgins toldYahoo! Newsin 2018that the day they met, Corcoran had a “a whole entourage of people with her — everybody wanted to meet her,” but he waited his turn and approached her when the crowd had dispersed.
Higgins told the outlet that he went up to her with “business intentions only,” but she had other plans. Corcoran asked Higginns to spend the weekend with her, per Yahoo! News,but he declined.
Not one to take no for an answer, Corcoran pursued Higgins for six months before the couple started dating.
“We both have stick-to-itiveness,” she told the outlet and he added, “I think tenacity keeps us happy.”
Higgins told theNew York Postin 1999 that their relationship also started with some healthy competition: When Corcoran and Higgins served on the same company’s board of directors in the 1980s, they challenged each other to see who could win the most advertising trophies.
They married in 1988
Barbara Corcoran and Bill Higgins in 2020.Barbara Corcoran Instagram
Two years after their relationship became official, Higgins proposed to Corcoran in Norway, per Yahoo! News. The two married on Valentine’s Day in 1988.
Alongside anInstagramvideo showing photos and clips of the couple through the years in honor of their 34th wedding anniversary in 2022, Corcoran shared the story of their wedding. It turns out, the two had almost missed their own ceremony, she wrote in the caption.
“Bill and I were in the woods cross-country skiing and got lost, we didn’t expect to hit traffic coming back even though we always hit traffic coming back, and my mom, dad and the minister were about to call it a day when we we finally got there,” she wrote. “We were married 5 minutes later.”
They share two children together
Barbara Corcoran and Bill Higgins with their daughter Kate.Barbara Corcoran Instagram
Corcoran and Higgins have two kids together: their son Tom and daughter Kate.
They welcomed Tom when Corcoran was in her mid-40s and then Kate when she was in her mid-50s, Corcoran shared in a Mother’s DayInstagrampost in 2023.
“Being a mom is the greatest gift in the world and I almost missed the boat,” she wrote, referring to having children so late in life. “I’m grateful everyday to be a mom! My kids are my whole world.”
Corcoran has been open about how she and Higgins’ family came to be. She toldYahoo Lifethat because she grew up in a big family, as one of 10 children, she assumed she’d have no problem having kids, but at 41, she found out she wouldn’t be able to conceive.
“For me it was like a death knell, the idea that I couldn’t have children,” she told the outlet.
A few years later, Corcoran and Higgins had their son Tom in 1993, through IVF when Corcoran’s younger sister donated her eggs and carried Tom for her, according toWomen’s Wear DailyandNew York Magazine, and the couple adopted Kate in 2005.
Tom has followed in his mother’s career footsteps as co-founder and managing partner of real estate investment firmTerra Capital. In 2018, Tom married his wife, Lia Higgins — who works as a litigator in New York City, and they welcomed their son, Jackson West Higgins, in October 2022. The special event made Corcoran afirst-time grandma.
Corcoran often shares photos of Kate on social media as well, whether they’re vacationing in places like theCayman IslandsandLondonor attendingcollege info sessions.
On Kate’s 16th birthday in October 2021, Corcoran posted a slideshow of photos onInstagramof the two with the caption, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our Kate today! I never dreamed I would have a daughter until Kate walked into our lives! 16 years later, filled with her joy and unbridled love, I now know it was the least expected and luckiest day of my life.”
He supports her career
Barbara Corcoran in a ‘Shark Tank’ promo photo.Christopher Willard/ABC/Getty
Christopher Willard/ABC/Getty
It’s no secret that Corcoran is one of the most well-known investors today, but she had made a name for herself even beforeShark Tank. When she met Higgins, he had no issue with taking a backseat to her career.
He told theNew York Postin 1999 that he had business cards made that listed his title as “Spouse.”
“About a year ago, I first asked her to make me chairman of the board [of her company], but she said, ‘No way,’ ” Higgins told the outlet. “So I thought of an alternative. And you know what’s better than chairman? Spouse.”
Higgins said that the business card was a testament and tribute to Corcoran’s hard work.
“I’m proud of my wife, and I’m proud to call myself her spouse,” he said. “[Admitting to being proud of your powerful wife] makes you seem much more secure in who you are. It shows you’re confident but that you’re not trying to prove anything.”
Higgins was not expecting Corcoran to change her lifestyle for him, and Corcoran wouldn’t have asked him to. In 2024, Corcoran shared marriage advice withHello!.
“You really have to take your partner as they are and not hope through the marriage they’re going to change. Because they never do,” she told the outlet. “You have to be satisfied! What you see is what you get.”
They have fun together
Barbara Corcoran and Bill Higgins in 2024.Barbara Corcoran Instagram
Corcoran is known for her antics on social media, and she often involves Higgins in the fun.
In November 2023, Corcoran posted onInstagramjoking about her new medicalCPAP machine. “Told Bill I had a surprise tonight. This isn’t what he was hoping for. 😂,” she captioned the post of her wearing the CPAP mask.
A week after theSuper Bowlin 2023, Corcoran and Higginsdressed upasTaylor SwiftandTravis Kelce— Corcoran in a long blonde wig with bangs and an all-black outfit and Higgins in a makeshift number 87 shirt.
Alongside a video of the two singing along to the song “Love Story” onInstagram, Corcoran captioned the post, “My ‘Love Story’ 🫶🏼❤️.”
On Higgins’ birthday in August 2023, Corcoran wished him a happy birthday onInstagram, writing “Here’s to another year of laughter, love, and endless adventures together. Cheers to you, my rock and partner in crime!”
source: people.com
