Who Is Lisa Cimorelli? All About Chad Gilbert’s Wife

Chad Gilbert told People, “I got my dream,” and that dream was a wife and a daughter.

NEED TO KNOW

• Lisa Cimorelli married New Found Glory guitarist Chad Gilbert on Oct. 3, 2020; he died Sept. 20, 2026, aged 45.
• Cimorelli is a singer and songwriter who co-founded the sister group Cimorelli in 2007.
• She and the band said he died “peacefully in his sleep,” with his wife and mother beside him.

On June 15, Chad Gilbert returned to a Nashville stage with New Found Glory, months after emergency brain surgery. Afterward, he wrote that he got to play a show in front of his daughter, something he never thought he would do again, according to Hollywood Life.

Three months later, he was gone. Gilbert, a founding member of the Florida pop-punk band formed in 1997, died on Sept. 20 at 45.

His wife, Lisa Cimorelli, announced his death with his bandmates in a joint statement. She was by his side through a cancer fight that began months after their daughter was born, according to People.

Here’s everything to know about Lisa Cimorelli, Chad Gilbert’s wife, and the life they built together.

Gilbert and Cimorelli got engaged in 2019 after his divorce from Hayley Williams

Gilbert married Paramore singer Hayley Williams in 2016, two years after their engagement. They separated in 2017, Variety reported. He had earlier been married to Sherri DuPree of the band Eisley.

After the divorce, Gilbert began dating Cimorelli, according to People. They got engaged in 2019. Cimorelli, 32 at the time of his April 2026 diagnosis update, co-founded her family’s singing group in 2007.

They tied the knot in Tennessee on Oct. 3, 2020

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A post shared by Lisa Cimorelli (@lisacimorelli)

The wedding came less than a year after the engagement, People reported. Cimorelli later posted wedding photos and wrote that a full day was not enough time to take it all in.

Their daughter, Lily, was born on July 17, 2021

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Lisa Cimorelli, Chad Gilbert and their daughter, Lily, in [Month Year].
Lisa Cimorelli/Instagram

Cimorelli announced Lily’s birth on Instagram. She wrote that the first week had been difficult and deeply meaningful, People reported. Lily is now 5, according to E! News.

Cimorelli found Gilbert unresponsive at home in December 2021

She performed CPR until paramedics arrived. A first responder told Gilbert, “Your wife saved your life,” he recalled in a February 2022 Forbes interview, as quoted by People.

Gilbert was diagnosed with metastatic pheochromocytoma, a rare adrenal cancer, and had emergency surgery that month. He was declared cancer-free, but the disease returned and spread. Several more surgeries followed over the next four years.

Doctors found three brain tumors in 2026 and upgraded his diagnosis to stage 4

In February, Gilbert’s left leg grew weak around the release of New Found Glory’s album Listen Up! He played the Nashville release show from a chair, he told People. A scan later found three brain tumors, one the size of a walnut.

His diagnosis became stage 4 adrenocortical carcinoma, a rare and aggressive cancer. He had emergency brain surgery in March, Deadline reported. L7 bassist Jennifer Finch also died after a brain cancer battle earlier this year.

Cimorelli told People the new diagnosis meant a much shorter lifespan than he had already lived, NBC News reported. His treatment plan then included immunotherapy to keep the cancer out of his brain, Rolling Stone reported.

Gilbert died on Sept. 20 with his wife and mother by his side

The joint statement, signed by Cimorelli and bandmates Jordan, Ian, Cyrus and Dan, said he died with friends and family around him. His wife and mother were nearby, as he had wished. So many visitors packed the hospital lobby on short notice that the statement called it proof of how loved he was.

Gilbert is survived by Cimorelli, Lily, his mother, Jackie, and his brother, Brian, Variety reported. Blink-182 bassist Mark Hoppus called him a “best friend to every person he met.” New Found Glory is preparing a tribute at upcoming performances, Parade reported.

The statement called Gilbert a legendary musician whose favorite accomplishment was being a husband and father. It added, “His biggest dreams came true.“