Real estate agent mom breaks silence after scorned husband exposed her affair with millionaire tycoon... and reveals the truth about his 'indecent proposal' claim
The glamorous real estate agent whose affair with a millionaire tycoon was humiliatingly revealed by her own husband is telling her side of the story - and responding to his claim she took cash from her lover to ditch him, making clear it is not true.
And it's not even close to the domestic-bliss yarn her ex is spinning.
While Michael Steckling has claimed his marriage was nearly perfect, Paige Steckling told the Daily Mail their relationship had been doomed long before her affair with real estate CEO Tamir Poleg, 49.
Steckling, who still works as an independent contractor at Poleg's Real Brokerage in Utah, said she confided in the founder about her marriage - which she said 'quickly' turned rotten after her 2013 wedding. In fact, she told the Daily Mail it was never the 'loving, committed' marriage Michael claimed it was.
She called it a 'nightmare' that she was desperate to escape from, but contrary to the allegation in her husband’s lawsuit, Poleg never offered her $3.5 million to leave her marriage for him, and she never took any money from him.
'I wanted to do this cleanly and I didn't want to be owned by anybody,' she told the Daily Mail. 'The claims being made publicly do not reflect my lived experience or the reality of my marriage.'
In October, Michael filed a lawsuit against Poleg for allegedly destroying his family by dangling offers of cash and real estate in front of Steckling, 38, with whom he shares two young sons.
Michael is now seeking $5million in damages from Poleg, and alleges that Poleg even sold a large chunk of stock to fund the claimed indecent financial proposal.
A real estate mogul's alleged $3.5million indecent proposal to Paige Steckling is now the subject of a lawsuit filed by her ex-husband
The Steckling family before Paige filed for divorce in February 2025. According to the civil complaint, they married in 2013 and have two children together
Real estate mogul Tamir Poleg, CEO of The Real Brokerage, is accused in a lawsuit of offering a married realtor $3.5million to leave her husband
Poleg denied any intent to interfere with the couple's relationship.
Steckling told the Daily Mail that Poleg sent her an email with the offer of financial support out of kindness after she told him about her marital problems and financial concerns. She said she told Michael about the offer at the time.
'Michael and I had talked about Tamir giving me financial support, but I ultimately told him I didn't want it or need it, so I told him I would not take anything,' she told the Daily Mail. 'It was like the last ditch effort in our marriage. Michael comes from a ton of money and told me if I ever tried to leave him, he would destroy me in court. So I requested financial support as a backup. I never ended up needing it. I never took a dime.'
She continued, adding that it's 'crazy' to see people saying that 'I left my family for money and I'm a gold digger, and all these comments.'
Regarding accusations that she asked for the money as a condition of leaving her marriage, she said, 'that's not how it went down.'
Paige called what really happened behind closed doors a 'nightmare,' and said her ex filed the lawsuit without notifying her.
'My ex-husband is telling anyone who will listen because he wants to portray that we had this perfect marriage and his ego is hurt,' she told the Daily Mail.
'The marriage was terrible. The only reason I started working is because he would never spend money and didn't want to join our accounts. There was a time where we didn't have sex for a year - like, it was terrible.'
Paige said the idea that her ex would describe their relationship as 'loving' is inconceivable.
'My marriage ended because it was deeply unhealthy and untenable,' she told the Daily Mail. 'I made the decision to leave for my own well-being and the well-being of my children after years of enduring a dynamic that included emotional harm and behavior that crossed boundaries. It was not a sudden decision, and it was not the result of an affair.'
Poleg's attorney, Adam Karr, told the Daily Mail that after Poleg's own separation from his spouse at the time, Poleg 'had a brief relationship with an independent contractor who filed for divorce from her husband.' Poleg is still married to his wife, Marina Poleg.
Steckling claims her marriage was anything but perfect - and that it broke down before she sought support from a work colleague
According to her website, Salty Blondes, Paige Steckling (pictured) has 'a knack for style and fashion'
Steckling (pictured) denies that her marriage was idyllic and said she did not leave because of Poleg
Pictured: Poleg with his wife Marina in Prague
Pictured: Paige and Michael Steckling on vacation. The lawsuit claimed the two were a loving couple who would often travel the world together
'It's crazy, [Michael] trying to say we had this perfect marriage - and he's trying to extort Tamir for money because I told him I had an emotional connection with him. I hadn't even talked to Tamir for months before our divorce was finalized,' Steckling continued. 'We had parted ways.
'There was never a physical relationship [with Poleg] during my marriage. Any brief relationship occurred only after [Michael and I] were separated and ended months before the divorce was finalized.'
Steckling, who was the breadwinner in her marriage toward its end due to her real-estate commissions, said her ex 'just wants to get money and embarrass everybody involved.'
'I was providing the lifestyle that he lived, and now he's losing that,' she said. 'So he's trying to get it from somebody else. I already had to give him half of everything [in the divorce].'
Michael's lawyer did not return a request for comment on Steckling's side of the story. Poleg's lawyer said, 'Mr. Poleg disputes that he offered Paige anything to leave her husband. After she requested financial support, Mr. Poleg indicated a willingness to provide it. No financial support was ever provided.'
Michael's lawsuit claimed that he and his ex-wife happily attended Utah Jazz games, Utah Utes football games, went skiing, enjoyed date nights with friends and spent evenings at home watching TV and movies. He claimed to be blindsided by the separation.
But Steckling said the marriage turned bad 'pretty quickly' at the very beginning, then grew 'unbearable' over the years.
'Once I started making money, that's when the real problems started,' she told the Daily Mail. 'I think it was just an insecurity of his.'
After divorcing in February 2025, the two now only speak when they have to about their kids. Michael has allegedly moved on with another romantic relationship.
'He's got a girlfriend - a serious girlfriend,' she said. 'And she's stunning, go figure.'
Although Steckling is still contracting with Poleg's company, she claimed that they no longer speak or cross paths.
'He is not in Utah,' she said. 'I'm just trying to focus on being a good mom and on my clients. I'm hoping all this will blow over without damage to the kids. I'm focused on protecting my children, continuing my work and moving through this with integrity.'
