It was only a matter of time before former U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez's wife, who's also on the hook for bribery charges thanks to her disgraced husband, faced her sentencing hearing.

According to the Associated Press, Nadine Menendez, 58, was hit with a 4.5-year sentence for her role in selling her influential last name and influence in exchange for bribes, gold bars, and a luxury vehicle.

Nadine Menendez reportedly sobbed in front of U.S. District Judge Sidney H. Stein this week as she learned her fate in prison, even going as far as describing her husband as a manipulative liar, saying he was "not the man I thought he was."

The collusion with her disgraced husband, who was once the former Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, lasted from 2018 to 2023.

What happened?

Nadine Menendez reportedly tearfully addressed the judge right before she learned that she'll be spending the next four and a half years behind federal prison bars.

“I put my life in his hands and he strung me like a puppet,” she said. “The blindfold is off. I now know he’s not my savior. He’s not the man I thought he was.”

Despite using that as what appeared to be a pity play -- even though it very well could be true -- she said that she wouldn't be divorcing her husband, which is odd, to say the least.

The AP reported:

Standing outside the courthouse afterward, she said she doesn’t plan to divorce her 71-year-old husband, who is serving an 11-year sentence for taking bribes, extortion, and acting as an agent of the Egyptian government.

While the judge showed some level of sympathy in her admissions about her husband, he also noted that she wasn't the “innocent observer of what was happening around you," as her lawyer claimed during her defense.

"The defendant was not a bit player," the prosecutor in the case said. “She played a critical role in selling the power of a U.S. senator."

Social media reacts

Users across social media reacted to the news of the sentencing.

Nadine Menendez, the wife of former U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison for selling the powerful New Jersey politician’s influence in exchange for bribes of cash, gold bars and a luxury car. https://t.co/6eKTaNWfw9 pic.twitter.com/KPu23nHrjP

— ABC News (@ABC) September 11, 2025

"Cash, gold bars, a luxury car—and a prison sentence to match. Greed really does come with a price tag," one X user wrote.

Another X user wrote, "Did she trade gold bars for prison stripes or just misunderstand the concept of valuable investments?"