Beth Shuey is known publicly as the former wife of Sean Payton, the NFL coach who led the New Orleans Saints for fifteen seasons and later took over as head coach of the Denver Broncos. Their marriage lasted close to two decades before ending in divorce, a split that drew significant public attention given Payton’s high profile coaching career. Beth Shuey herself, however, has consistently kept a low public profile throughout and after their marriage.
This article covers what is genuinely well documented about Beth Shuey, and directly addresses a separate, fabricated account circulating online that incorrectly mixes her identity with completely unrelated people.
What Is Well Documented
Beth Shuey, whose full name is Beth Shuey McGuire, was born in 1968 and raised in Morocco, Indiana, a small town where she grew up alongside her sister, Debbie Shuey Doyle. Her parents are Thomas Milton Shuey and Joyce Antcliff Shuey. She attended North Newton Junior-Senior High School before going on to Indiana State University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing.
Beth Shuey married Sean Payton, and the couple had two children together, a son named Connor and a daughter named Meghan. Meghan Payton has gone on to work as a sideline reporter covering American football, while Connor has also been connected to the sport. Beth and Sean Payton’s marriage lasted for roughly two decades before ending in divorce, reportedly connected to Payton’s subsequent relationship with Skylene Montgomery, a former Miss West Virginia USA titleholder, whom he later became engaged to. Following her divorce, Beth Shuey has continued to maintain a private life, reportedly residing in Lantana, Texas, and keeping most of her social media presence private.
A Fabricated Account Worth Correcting Directly
Separate from this well documented biography, at least one article circulating online presents an entirely different and factually impossible account of Beth Shuey. This version claims she was a standout football player at Stanford University, drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the 1992 NFL Draft, later played for the New Orleans Saints, became the first woman to start at middle linebacker, and was also, separately, a member of the Utah Blaze in the Women’s Football Alliance before marrying Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz.
This account does not hold up to even basic scrutiny. It provides a birth date of 1985, which would have made this version of Beth Shuey only seven years old at the time of the claimed 1992 NFL Draft, an obvious internal contradiction. Additionally, Carson Wentz’s actual wife is named Maddie Wentz, not Beth Shuey, meaning this claim also incorrectly merges two entirely unconnected individuals into a single, fabricated narrative. No legitimate NFL history recognizes a woman being drafted into the league or starting at the middle linebacker position, making this entire account clearly fabricated rather than a simple factual error. Readers encountering this version of Beth Shuey’s story should recognize it as inaccurate and unrelated to the real, documented Beth Shuey connected to Sean Payton.
A Separate Name Overlap Worth Noting
It is also worth being aware that the name Beth Shuey is shared by at least one other, entirely unrelated individual with no connection to Sean Payton or professional football. Readers researching this name online should take care to confirm which specific person a given article is actually describing, given how common this kind of name overlap can be.
Final Thoughts
The well documented, verifiable Beth Shuey is Sean Payton’s former wife, a private individual from Morocco, Indiana, who built a stable family life away from significant media attention during and after her marriage to one of the NFL’s most recognized coaches. A separate, fabricated account describing an entirely different, athletically impossible career and a fictional marriage to Carson Wentz should not be mistaken for accurate information, given its clear internal contradictions and its incorrect merging of unrelated individuals into a single false narrative.
