Naomi Wolf and Brian William O’Shea were married Nov. 23 at the Boylston Rooms, a converted industrial space in Easthampton, Mass. Rabbi Judith Goleman, the maternal aunt of the bride, officiated.
Dr. Wolf, 56, is the chief executive of DailyClout, a technology company in New York that makes digital tools to help people understand, change and pass legislation. She is also a journalist and author who has written columns for George Magazine, New York Magazine, The Sunday Times of London and The Guardian, as well as seven New York Times nonfiction best sellers, including “The Beauty Myth,” “Promiscuities” and “Vagina.” Her next book, “Outrages: Sex, Censorship and the Criminalization of Love,” is to be published by Houghton Mifflin (May 2019).
She graduated magna cum laude from Yale, and was a Rhodes scholar who received a Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Oxford.
She is a daughter of Deborah Goleman Wolf and Leonard L. Wolf of Corvallis, Ore. The bride’s father is an emeritus professor of English literature at San Francisco State University. Her mother is a psychotherapist in Corvallis.
Mr. O’Shea, 43, is a private detective and chief executive of Striker Pierce Investigations, a detective agency with offices in Washington, New York and Alexandria, Va. His company focuses on litigation support and corporate fraud issues, and also provides consultation in support of survivors of sexual assault and other crimes.
The groom is a disabled Army veteran who last served with a special forces unit in the Southern Philippines in the days after the Sept. 11 attacks.
He was honorably discharged as a staff sergeant, and was last based at Fort Lewis, in Washington, with the 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne), now known as Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
He graduated from the Army’s Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center in Monterey, Calif., and received a master’s degree in criminal justice from Boston University.
He is a son of Harmony D. O’Shea of Jacksonville, Fla., and the late William C. O’Shea. The groom’s mother retired as a nurse in Portland, Me. His father owned Donut Haven, a doughnut shop and diner in Windham, Me.
The bride’s first marriage ended in divorce, as did the groom’s previous two marriages.
The couple met in August 2014, after Dr. Wolf’s reporting on human rights violations in the Middle East resulted in online threats. When she began inquiring about security, colleagues recommended Mr. O’Shea.
“The first thing she asked me was, ‘How are you doing?’ he recalled. “I thought: ‘She’s my concern. I should be asking her that question.’”
They embarked on what Ms. Wolf described as “a very professional relationship,” with Mr. O’Shea accompanying her to any event with a potential for danger.
“We went to a lot of geopolitical events, and I admired how she handled herself,” he said. “She wasn’t afraid to ask tough questions, and she was always concerned with getting to the root of a problem, rather than trying to come away with the best sound bite.”
Dr. Wolf was equally impressed with Mr. O’Shea.
“He did a great job taking care of all of the harassment issues, which made my life so much better,” she said. “I really respected him for that, and was very grateful.”
Six months later, the job was finished, but Dr. Wolf and Mr. O’Shea, each of whom has two children, were only just beginning.
“At that point, I felt like he was my best friend; I was completely at home and at peace in his presence,” Dr. Wolf said. “Not only is he brave and honorable, but he’s kind to everybody, including my children, and he has a great Irish sense of humor.”
She soon began attending events to which he was invited.
“I loved her company; she was a very good listener who brought to my world a kind of selflessness I had not previously known,” Mr. O’Shea said. “When she wasn’t able to go somewhere with me, I would sometimes get annoyed, and it got to the point where I stepped back and asked myself, ‘Why does it bother me when she’s not around?’
“The answer was obvious,” he added. “I was in love with her.”
