BRADENTON, FLORIDA: Scott Baio and his wife Renee Sloan are reportedly staying in a condo as their new home is being built in Florida after they left California due to issues of homelessness and out-of-control crime. Baio and Sloan decided to move to Bradenton, Florida, for several reasons, including its proximity to Anna Maria Island and Siesta Key, which Sloan shared after the family’s move to the city.
“I love the small town feel and values of Manatee County and I support mom-and-pop businesses and would like to keep them thriving,” she told the Herald-Tribune. Baio also took to Instagram to share a photo of himself and his wife walking along a beach with a caption that read, “Living our best life in Florida.” The ‘Happy Days’ star previously announced his decision by citing statistics that estimated around 70,000 homeless people living in Los Angeles County, with approximately 41,000 living in the city alone.
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Who is Scott Baio's wife? Actor met Renee Sloan at the Playboy Mansion
‘My wife and kid are afraid to go to the mall’
While discussing his move to Florida with his wife Renee and their daughter Bailey, Baio said the family no longer felt safe in California. “Between the homeless defecating on the sidewalk, doing drugs on the sidewalk in the middle of the day, illegal aliens all over the place, law means nothing, crime is out of control, graffiti on everything... all of my tax dollars, I don't know what they go for,” he told Fox News.
“I'm afraid to go to the mall, my wife and kid are afraid to go to the mall. It's become an unlivable situation,” he continued. “I've been in California a very, very long time, and it's so sad to me. I've got family and I've got friends there, and I didn't want to leave, but I've been pretty much forced out,” Baio added.
A look into Scott Baio and Renee Sloan’s relationship
Baio and Sloan crossed paths for the first time at the Playboy mansion in the 1990s. The duo remained friends for over a decade before they started dating in 2005. The couple tied the knot at a luxury high-rise in Los Angeles on December 8, 2007. Sloan later revealed that her mother-in-law and manager were the only two people who attended the wedding.
The pair exchanged their vows nearly a month after Sloan gave birth to their daughter, Bailey, in 2007. While the couple initially expected twins, Sloan lost one of the babies in the 11th week of her pregnancy. Bailey was reportedly born five weeks premature and tested positive for a rare metabolic disorder, glutaric acidemia type I. While the child’s diagnosis was later proven to be false, Baio and Sloan created the Bailey Baio Angel Foundation to help other patients dealing with metabolic disorders. Baio and Sloan’s marriage faced another major blow after the latter was diagnosed with a meningioma brain tumor in 2015. She also went public about her battle with two tumors and Microvascular Brain Disease in 2017.
Back in 2015, Sloan told ET Online that Baio broke down before informing their daughter about her diagnosis. “Before we told our daughter, he had put his head on my shoulder in the kitchen and he wept, and our daughter witnessed this, and she said, ‘Mommy, why are you making Daddy cry? You need to apologize. You apologize for making Daddy cry,’” Sloan shared. “So I bit the inside of my mouth and I said, ‘I’m sorry, Daddy, for making you cry.’ You just got to be strong,” she added. Meanwhile, Baio said that he derives his strength from his wife. “I'm tough in a different way. She's life tough,” he mentioned at the time.
Although Sloan successfully battled the health issues with the love and support of her husband, their marriage faced further challenges when Baio faced sexual assault allegations. Despite the accusations, Sloan defended her husband on social media. She said that Baio’s attitude towards her when they started dating made her believe he could not have abused anyone, Amo Mama reported.
Sloan revealed she was sexually abused when she was younger and suffered from trauma until she met Baio. The actress said that she finally healed from the trauma after she began dating Baio and shared that the ‘Foxes’ star was always loving and understanding and loving. Sloan also mentioned Baio took a lie-detecting test after being cleared of all charges to prove his innocence.
Similarly, Baio also came to Sloan’s defense after the latter was attacked on social media when her husband retweeted a conspiracy meme about the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting. Amid multiple health issues and personal controversies, Baio and Sloan continued to remain together and their relationship grew even stronger over the years.
