Steve Harvey Net Worth
| Steve Harvey Net Worth: | $200 Million |
| Nationality: | American |
| Born: | 17th January 1957 (64 Years Old) |
| Profession: | Comedian/Actor |
| Children: | 7 |
Steve Harvey’s net worth in 2023 is $200 million, which is phenomenal.
However, what’s surprising about Steve Harvey is that his fortune was amassed only when he was approaching his mid-thirties, and he had quite a challenging life before that too.
Like a lot of self-made celebrities, Steve Harvey has worked hard to get to where he is today, and there’s no doubt that back in his youth, he wouldn’t have believed what life had in store for him.
Steve Harvey: Early Life and Childhood
Harvey was born in Welch, West Virginia, to working-class parents – coal miner Jesse Harvey and Eloise Vera.
What many people don’t realize is that Steve Harvey’s full name is Broderick Stephen Harvey. And coincidentally, his first name pays tribute to Broderick Crawford, an actor in the television series Highway Patrol.
The Harvey family moved from West Virginia to Cleveland, Ohio when Steve was a child.
His childhood home on East 112th Street was renamed Steve Harvey Way in his honor in 2015.
Harvey was an intelligent young man who, after graduating high school in 1974, enrolled at Kent State University and also West Virginia University.
The Start of his Adult Life
Harvey undertook many different job roles as he started his working life: he was a boxer, an insurance salesman, an autoworker, a mailman, and a carpet cleaner.
He was just 28 before he performed stand-up comedy for the first time.
This first gig was in Cleveland’s Hilarities Comedy Club and was a huge success for Harvey as he walked away with $50 in winnings.
Trying to make it as a comedian wasn’t easy; Harvey took a huge risk by quitting his job as an insurance salesman, which his wife Marcia was not happy about.
As Harvey struggled to make money from comedy gigs, earning just $3,000 in his first year, his relationship with his wife broke down. It wasn’t just his relationship with Marcia that suffered, however, his relationship with his twin daughters also suffered.
Keen to provide for his family, Harvey would send three-quarters of his pay-checks to Marcia, leaving him to survive on just $50 a week.
Harvey was homeless and living out of his car just to try and make it in the industry.
He says, ”I realised, ‘You’re on your own. You have nothing or no one.’ All I knew was that I could make people laugh.”
Harvey also admits to stealing from fuel stations so that he could get to his gigs. Occasionally, he was able to stay in a hotel but otherwise, it was his Ford Tempo that was his bed for the night along with an Igloo cooler as his refrigerator.
He would survive using bathrooms in rest stops and eating a diet that consisted mainly of bologna sandwiches.
Not Giving Up Hope and Getting a Big Break
There was a moment just before his big break where Harvey attempted to wash in the sink of a hotel bathroom but had to hide in a toilet stall for a few hours until all of the other guests had left.
Harvey, a religious man, recalled the moment like a conversation with God.
He told People: “I sat down and started crying, but a voice said, ‘If you keep going, I’m going to take you places you’ve never been.’ It was like God said, ‘Don’t quit, you’re almost there.’”
Shortly afterwards, the big break came for Harvey as he performed on television at the Apollo.
He was 33.
Career Take-Off
Harvey’s success at hosting “It’s Showtime at the Apollo” led him to acting.
His first role was in a show called Me and the Boys on ABC.
The show only ran for one season and had 19 episodes. It was based on the life of a video store owner and widower Steve Tower who was finding it a challenge to raise his three sons alone.
After this first acting role, Harvey starred in The Steve Harvey Show between 1996 and 2002. This show was particularly popular among the African-American community but failed to reach critical acclaim elsewhere.
The Kings of Comedy
It was during the late 90s when things really took off for Steve Harvey. He performed with Bernie Mac, D.L. Hughley and Cedric the Entertainer on the Kings of Comedy tour.
This tour was so successful, grossing $18 million in the first year and reaching $19 million in the second.
In 2000, American film director and producer Spike Lee directed a film featuring the four stand-up comedians, naming it The Original Kings of Comedy.
This contained footage of the last 2 nights of the Kings of Comedy tour and was intercut with footage of the stand-ups playing basketball, at their hotel, promoting their show on radio, and backstage at the tour.
Harvey also used the Kings of Comedy name for his variety show with its name subsequently changing to Steve Harvey’s Big Time Challenge.
This ran for two seasons between 2003 and 2005 and featured performers competing for a prize of $10,000.
Steve Harvey in Radio
Steve Harvey’s net worth is largely attributable to his stand up career but his success wasn’t just limited to stand-up, TV and film.
In 2000, he began hosting The Steve Harvey Morning Show on national radio. This 4-hour long program is broadcast from Los Angeles and features a team of commentators and comedians alongside the host.
It continues running to this day.
Other Screen Successes
Harvey’s success in The Original Kings of Comedy wasn’t his only film accomplishment. Harvey also starred in The Fighting Temptations, Love Don’t Cost a Thing, Johnson Family Vacation, You Got Served, and Racing Stripes.
Books
Like so many multi-millionaires who have come from nothing, it seems like they never stop working.
On top of the the comedian’s TV shows, films and stand-up the 64-year-old has written a number of books about self-development.
In 2009, he wrote a book called “Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man: What Men Really Think About Love, Relationships, Intimacy, and Commitment“.
This non-fiction, self-help book navigates men’s ideas and behaviors in relationships. This was later made into a film with Harvey as its executive producer.
The book was a huge success, spending 23 weeks in the top spot of The New York Times best-seller list and a further 21 weeks on the list.
Harvey’s Final Stand-Up
After 27 years in stand-up comedy, Harvey performed his last act in August 2012.
He said: “The road to this final show has been an amazing journey, doing stand-up for the past 27 years, and I can’t thank fans enough after reflecting on all those years on stage.”
Motivational Speech
In 2016, after recording an episode of Family Feud, which he hosted from 2010, Steve Harvey gave a motivational speech to the audience.
In his six-minute discourse, he explained how everybody has a gift or special skill and sometimes “you’re gonna have to jump.”
This speech resonated with Harvey’s own struggle to make it in the comedy industry. He went on to say: “when you first jump, your parachute will not open right away […] You gonna hit them rocks. You gonna get some skin tore off on those cliffs … you’re going to be bleeding pretty bad. But eventually, the parachute has to open.”
This speech became a motivation for “Jump: Take the Leap of Faith to Achieve Your Life of Abundance” that Harvey published in 2016.
Family Life
Work-life aside, Steve Harvey is a family man.
As well as his aforementioned twin daughters, Harvey had a son Broderick Harvey Jr. with Marcia.
He married for a second time but this marriage also ended in divorce in 2005. With his second wife Mary Shackleford, he had a son called Wynton.
Mary reported infidelity on Harvey’s part as a reason for their divorce.
In 2007, Harvey married his third wife, Marjorie Bridges. He became stepfather to her three children Morgan, Jason, and Lori, whom he subsequently adopted.
Steve Harvey Quotes
Steve Harvey has said many inspirational things throughout his life. Here are a few quotations:
“I’m not really a relationship expert but …I’m an expert on manhood and what men think.”
“You can take lessons to become almost anything: flying lessons, piano lessons, skydiving lessons, acting lessons, race car driving lessons, singing lessons. But there’s no class for comedy. You have to be born with it. God has to give you this gift.”
“God doesn’t make any mistakes. You are exactly where you are supposed to be right now.”
God doesn’t make any mistakes
You are exactly where you are supposed to be right now
Steve Harvey
“If you are waking up with the sensation that there’s got to be more in life… then there is.”
“The single most important part of your life is your dream.”
Summary: Steve Harvey Net Worth
- In 2023, Steve Harvey’s net worth is approximately $200 million.
- Growing up in a working-class household, Steve struggled with varying jobs before deciding to take a leap of faith and commit to trying to make the big time in comedy in his early thirties.
- Already a father, he struggled to make ends meet and spent his early comedy gigging career living in his car so that he could provide money to his children and his wife, from whom he had separated.
- At the age of 33, Harvey got his big break when he performed at the Apollo and from there, his career took off.
- During his extensive career, Harvey has had many successful roles in comedy, TV, film, and radio. He has even written two acclaimed non-fiction books.
- Steve Harvey is arguably one of the most successful comedians of his generation. His success spans three decades in the entertainment industry, with his impressive $200 million net worth that proves it.
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