As Georgina Bloomberg watched her hours-old son being held for the first time by her father, Michael, she couldn’t help but feel a bit apprehensive. The only time she could recall the famously reserved politician handling a baby was on the campaign trail — and he tended to look uncomfortable whenever an infant was placed in his arms.
But when the city’s esteemed and most recent former mayor held his first grandchild, Jasper Michael Brown Quintana, things were different.
“He didn’t drop him!” says Georgina with a laugh, in an exclusive interview with the Post.
“He didn’t choke up or cry — he was just very happy and thought Jasper was adorable.
“I’ve said in the past that my dad isn’t good around kids, but I guess when it’s your own flesh and blood, it comes more naturally.”
Jasper was born at 4:34 p.m. on Christmas Eve at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, weighing in at 7 pounds and 7 ounces. The 71-year-old patriarch arrived at the hospital shortly thereafter, bearing a bouquet of flowers and a gold charm bracelet for his daughter.
“He picked it out himself,” says Georgina, 30, a professional horsewoman, animal rights advocate and philanthropist.
“He told me he’s done a lot of diaper changing, but I’m not going to ask him to do it. I’ll just believe him.”
She might be one of the heirs to Bloomberg’s $11.5 billion fortune, but Georgina comes across as any other new mother — joking about her lack of mobility after her cesarean section; overwhelmed, exhausted, but also radiant.
Changing mats, swaddling blankets and boxes of diapers vie for space with the minimalist furnishings in the spacious Central Park West apartment she shares with boyfriend Ramiro Quintana, Jasper’s 36-year-old, Argentinian-born father and a fellow equestrian.
In line with her dad’s very public stance against formula in favor of breast milk, Georgina plans to nurse her son for as long as she can before returning to her riding career full-time, noting that she will probably get on a horse at the end of January.
Until then, she has hired a baby nurse during the day, and shares baby-sitting duties with Ramiro in the evenings and overnight. “I am lucky enough to be in a position to be able to afford help, but I really want to be involved and experience the responsibility and, of course, the bonding,” Georgina says. “Having a baby is something I’ve always wanted and I’m obviously going to do as much for him myself as I possibly can.”
Her married sister, Emma, 34, does not have children and, according to Georgina, “was relying on me to do that first.”
Free-spirited Georgina has long described herself as “non-traditional,” and her decision to have a child out of wedlock raised few eyebrows among her close friends and family.
She eschewed an Ivy League education and an entree into her father’s global financial data and media company in favor of an arts degree from New York University and a career in professional show-jumping.
Rather than lead the life of a Manhattan socialite, she spends more time at her farm in North Salem, Westchester, and lives chiefly on her Florida estate with her collection of horses, five dogs and Wilbur, the lovable rescue pig she adopted from a New Jersey animal sanctuary after Hurricane Sandy. Meanwhile, Quintana runs a stable in Middlebrook, Va., where he is based during the summer.
“Ramiro and I are horse people, first and foremost,” says Georgina of their unusual living arrangements.
“That’s just the challenge of our lifestyle and [in the horse world] you’re not going to find somebody who can be by your side every day.
“At the same time, I’m not really sure I’m the sort of person who would want that either. We’re both very independent.”
Indeed, she caused controversy in September when she rode in the Hampton Classic at five months pregnant.
“I felt good and I just listened to my body about when it was time to stop,” says Georgina, who placed third in the competition and, like many horsewomen of her ability, is hoping for a place in the 2016 Olympics. “I was careful and chose horses which were less prone to anything happening.”
She met Quintana when she was just 15 on the East Coast riding circuit and the pair were close friends for many years. They dated on and off, but made a serious commitment last October and started trying for a baby in the spring.
“It was a happy surprise, something that we both wanted and were ready for,” says Georgina.
“When it happened, we were very happy and so were our parents. My dad and I are different people, but we are 100 percent supportive of each other.”
She claims there was no pressure to have a shotgun wedding, and she didn’t have a baby shower (instead, she asked well-wishers to donate to Baby Buggy, Jessica Seinfeld’s charity that helps families in need with baby gear and clothing).
“By now, my family has gotten used to the idea that I do things my own way.
“I love the idea of being with one person for the rest of your life, but I don’t think you need a piece of paper to do that.”
Her mother, Susan Brown, and father got divorced in 1993 when Georgina was ten, but have stayed good friends.
As for expanding the Bloomberg family further, Georgina would ideally like to have two more biological kids and adopt two others, possibly from abroad.
“I’ve always said I’d like three of my own and the chance to give two other children the experience of a different life,” she says.
Meanwhile, she is determined to raise Jasper with the values instilled in her from an early age. It was in this spirit that she established her foundation, the Bloomberg Sisters Foundation, and a charity called the Rider’s Closet, a program that collects used riding clothes and donates them to people in need.
“Yes, I’ve had a privileged upbringing and so, of course, will Jasper,” she acknowledges.
“But he won’t be spoiled. My parents have taught me about caring for people who are less fortunate, being humble and not thinking too much of yourself.
“It’s your duty in life to find causes which you care about, and it’s important to give back. I want Jasper to find the things he is passionate about and make a difference.”
All in good time.
Meanwhile, “we want to get him in the saddle as soon as we can,” says Georgina, before jokingly adding: “Maybe next week?”