Mario Lemieux - Personal Life

The youngest of three sons of Jean-Guy and Pierrette Lemieux, he was raised by his stay-at-home mother, and his father, who was a construction worker. Lemieux was born on the same day as Patrick Roy, in the province of Quebec, just 200 kilometers apart. Mario Lemieux married Nathalie Asselin on June 26, 1993. They have four children: Lauren (born April 1993), Stephanie (born 1995), Austin Nicholas (born 1996) and Alexa (born 1997). Austin was born prematurely, weighing just two pounds, but he is perfectly healthy today. The family lives in the affluent Pittsburgh suburb of Sewickley. Off the ice, Lemieux smoked a half a pack of cigarettes daily. He finally gave it up, perhaps due to Hodgkin's Disease.

Lemieux has opened his home to young Penguins stars such as Marc-André Fleury and Sidney Crosby until they settled into the Pittsburgh area, as he did with Jaromír Jágr following the 1990 NHL Draft when he lived in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania. He is a naturalized American citizen and on March 30, 2007, Lemieux, a registered Republican, contributed $2,300 to Democratic U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign fund. In the past, he has also made contributions to the reelection fund of Republican former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum. On June 17, 2009, Lemieux was given the honourable title Knight from Quebec Premier Jean Charest. On September 3, 2010, Lemieux was given the Order of Canada from then-Governor-General Michaëlle Jean.

Lemieux created the Mario Lemieux Foundation during the same year he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma (1993), to fund medical research projects. Additionally, the foundation supports other organizations, including the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the Leukemia Society, the Lupus Foundation and the Children's Home of Pittsburgh. In 2007, he was among the well-known athletes who founded Athletes for Hope, a charitable organization which helps professional athletes get involved in charitable causes and inspires non-athletes to volunteer and support the community.