Who is Cassidy Erin Gifford?
A model and actress, Cassidy Erin Gifford is perhaps known best for her role as Reagan Decker in the series “The Baxters”, a family drama based on the novels by Karen Kingsbury. To movie lovers, Cassidy is well-known for her role in “God’s Not Dead” which won the MovieGuide Award for Most Inspiring Movie in 2015.
This year was quite significant for Cassidy, since she was chosen as one of the ’18 Beautiful Women America Won’t Be Able to Resist This Summer’ by Esquire magazine.
Early life, family, and education
Cassidy Erin Gifford was born under the zodiac sign of Leo on 2 August 1993, which makes her age 29. She was raised in Greenwich, Connecticut USA by her parents alongside her brother, Cody, who is a writer and film producer. Cassidy and Cody have half-siblings, named Jeff, Vicky and Kyle from their father’s first marriage.
Their father, Frank Gifford, was a former American Footballer who played for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL), and their mother, Katie Lee Gifford is a television host, known for her work on “Today Show”.
Speaking of Cassidy’s educational background, she attended Alta High School, and after she graduated in 2011, she enrolled at the University of North Carolina, from which she graduated with a BA degree in 2014.
Modeling and acting career
Cassidy began modeling as a teenager, was featured in Teen Vogue magazine, and was also seen on the New York Fashion Week catwalk. She made her acting debut portraying Laura Haley in the 2004 TV movie “Like Cats and Dogs”.
In the following year, Cassidy made an appearance as Jamie in an episode of the series “That’s So Raven”, followed by her role as Kate in the episode “Model Behavior” of the series “The Suite Life on Deck” in 2010.
Her next role came in the 2011 movie “Adventures of Serial Buddies”, a comedy that followed the story of a chance encounter that forces four crazy minds to join forces and embark on an idiotic and hilarious journey – encountering skinheads, porn stars, clowns, and Kathie Lee Gifford, Cassidy’s mother, who made a cameo appearance in this movie. In the same year, Cassidy guest-starred as Mandy in “Blue Bloods”, a popular crime drama starring Donnie Wahlberg and Bridget Moynahan.
Cassidy was cast to play Kara in the 2014 movie “God’s Not Dead”, followed by her role as Cassidy Spilker in “The Gallows”, a horror mystery thriller but which was nominated for the Fangoria Chainsaw Award for Worst Film.
In the same year, she was seen as Daisy in the TV movie “Twisted Sisters”, followed by her role as Hannah in an episode of the series “The Detour” in 2017.
Next, she was starring in Hallmark’s re-make “Like Cats & Dogs” opposite Wyatt Nash, a romantic comedy following the story of Laura, who was a dog person, and Spencer, who was a cat person – the two met in a beach town where they both came on vacation. With totally different personalities and their ‘enemy’ pets, the two ended up together in the same rental house. Although the movie had no nominations, it was well accepted by rom-com lovers.
It seems that 2017 was a good year for Cassidy, since she landed herself another lead role as Cara in the adventure mystery “Time Trap”, which won the Hollywood Film Festival Jury Prize for Most Innovative Narrative feature, and was followed by her role as Minnie in “Ten”, in the same year.
From 2019 until 2021, Cassidy had the recurring role as Reagan Decker in “The Baxters”, which was her most recent role.
Husband, wedding, children
There is no record of Cassidy’s previous relationships before she began dating football player Addison Pierce. The two were in a five-year-long relationship before they separated in 2016.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CHhdZW8B4Oo/
Soon after, she began dating her future husband, Ben Wierda, who is a project manager from Santa Monica, California. He is also known as the grandson of Edgar Prince, an engineer and the founder of the Prince Corporation. Ben is a nephew of Betsy DeVos, a former government official who served as the United States Secretary of Education, and Ben’s uncle is Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater USA.
Cassidy and Ben were childhood friends, although Ben is three years older than she, born on 19 September 1990. However, Cassidy once said for People magazine:
‘Our moms would obviously always joke about it when we were little: ‘They’re always flirting, they’ll end up together.’
Cassidy and Ben became engaged on 17 November 2019, and tied the knot on 13 June 2020 – the wedding ceremony was small and private due to Covid-19 restrictions. In October of that same year, they had a ceremony with their family members and friends held in Nashville, Tennessee. Cassidy wore a Monique Lhuillier veil, gown, and heels, while the groom wore an RRL tuxedo. The bride wore the same earrings that her father gave her mother on their wedding day.
They rented all four floors of the Acme Feed & Seed, a uniquely southern restaurant. Kathie Lee sang the song “When I Fall in Love”, especially for the young couple.
Since Cassidy’s father Frank died in 2015, she couldn’t have a father-daughter dance, but her brother Cody danced with her while the orchestra was playing “What a Wonderful World”. At one moment, Ben’s father, now Cassidy’s father-in-law, came and asked her to dance, which according to Cassidy was very sweet, so she started to cry.
Cassidy and Ben are still together; they don’t have children.
Net worth
Working as a model and acting in movies and series, Cassidy accumulated a decent amount of money thanks to her beauty and acting talent. If you wondered about her net worth, let us tell you that it’s been estimated at over $1.5 million, as of 2022. According to sources, her husband Ben has a net worth estimated at $450,000, as of late 2022.
