As Jessica Pegula competes at the U.S. Open, her family is once again in the spotlight.
Her parents, Terry and Kim Pegula, are famous in their own right—they are the owners of the Buffalo Bills, and they're billionaires. Jessica shared the other day that "the most annoying thing" is "that people think I have a butler, that I get chauffeured around. I have a private limo, that I fly private everywhere....I'm definitely not like that. People can think what they want. I don't know. I think it's kind of funny." She continued, "A butler?! Like, I read these comments, like, she probably has this and that and that. I'm, like, no, not at all. Maybe I should. I don't know at this point. Is that what you want me to do, do all these crazy things?"
Jessica concluded, "It's a little annoying, but honestly I just think it's kind of funny because I don't really even know anyone that lives like that. It's outrageous."
She told T&C this summer that her family was a tennis family long before they were a football family. "I’ve been playing since I was seven, so I feel like they’ve actually transitioned the opposite maybe. I think we were more tennis initially, and then it flipped. They’re very different sports, but I do feel like they understand maybe more than others because of just how hard it is, being an athlete, and the highs and lows and the ups and downs of someone's career," she explained.
Here, everything you need to know about Jessica Pegula's parents Terry and Kim:
Meet Terry Pegula
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Terry Pegula in December 2023.
Terry, a self-made billionaire, was born and raised in Pennsylvania. He graduated from Penn State University with a Bachelor of Science in petroleum and natural gas engineering in 1973. In 1983, he launched independent oil and gas company East Resources Inc. with a $7,500 loan from friends and family. In 2010, he sold the bulk of the company's assets for $4.7 billion, and bought the Buffalo Sabres in 2011 and the Buffalo Bills in 2014.
He has five children: Michael and Laura from his first marriage to Anne Shirley, and Jessica, Kelly, and Matthew from his second marriage to Kim Pegula.
Meet Kim Pegula (née Kerr)
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Kim Pegula in September 2021.
Kim was born in Seoul, South Korea. At age 5, she was adopted by Ralph and Marilyn Kerr, and grew up in Fairport, New York. Kim and Terry met in 1991 and married in 1993.
In June 2022, Kim went into cardiac arrest, changing the lives of the Pegula family. She suffered significant brain damage and memory issues and is still undergoing therapy. Kim has rarely made any public appearances since.
"My mom is the president and owner of both the Buffalo Sabres and Buffalo Bills," Jessica wrote in the Player's Tribune in February 2023. "She loved to work. She did everything and our family constantly told her how she needs to slow down and take time for herself. She was the woman behind my dad’s success and my dad would happily admit that. She jumped into this journey with him and learned many lessons along the way, breaking a lot of barriers. She was the shift in culture, positivity, and the heartbeat of many of the employees. She gave everyone so much of her time and effort. She lived it and loved it, and it was felt by everyone she met. Now we come to the realization that all of that is most likely gone. That she won’t be able to be that person anymore."
She continued, "My mom always wanted me to be involved, she wanted me to learn and eventually do what she was doing. She always told me to wait until after tennis was done. I would always press her to give me more responsibility, to let me be more involved, because I wanted to help. So now here I am, with my family, trapped in discussions about her care, caretakers, doctors, therapy and that which seemed like the least important, my tennis career. All of a sudden, your world gets flipped upside down and you have no idea what the f**k is going on. Our family is involved in a lot—the sports teams, businesses, investments, and my mom liked to be very hands on with it all. Of course, what came first was that it was a family tragedy. Now add on top of that all her responsibilities and it became extremely overwhelming for everyone involved. We try to be a private family, and it is hard going through something so horrible that seemed so public."
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Emily Burack (she/her) is the Senior News Editor for Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, celebrities, the royals, and a wide range of other topics. Before joining T&C, she was the deputy managing editor at Hey Alma, a Jewish culture site. Follow her @emburack on Twitter and Instagram.