Dan Marino Scandal: The Legend, the Lovechild… and Millions in Hush Money?

The New York Post broke the story, claiming football great Dan Marino fathered a love child with CBS co-worker Donna Savattere in 2005. The former Miami Dolphins quarterback, who has been married to wife Claire for nearly 30 years, supposedly paid his lover millions to keep the story quiet.

Dan and Donna met at CBS in New York where he was a pre-game analyst and she was a production assistant. Sources told the Post that Savattere, then 35, gave birth to a daughter, Chloe, in 2005.

“They had an affair, and she had a baby,” said a source. “Everything was on the down-low and secretive.”

Marino sort of confessed to the paper, explaining, “This is a personal and private matter. I take full responsibility both personally and financially for my actions now as I did then. We mutually agreed to keep our arrangement private to protect all parties involved... My wife and I have been married for almost 30 years and have six children together.”

So far, no word on exactly how much he paid to keep the affair a secret. Donna supposedly agreed to move to Texas with the baby, but later resurfaced in New York, where she is a “fixture on the social scene.”

Donna is now married to Nahill Younis, whom she met while on vacation in the Bahamas in 2009. The two have since had a child together.

Sources say Dan, 51, and Donna have stayed in touch and he has met Chloe, now 7.