Steve Harvey has a long list of titles. He’s a comedian, a TV program presenter, an author, and a father, but none of his accomplishments have come easily. He started as a homeless man and has since risen to become one of America’s most adored celebrities.
Steve Harvey is a daytime television staple. He has defied all odds to reach the top, a long way from his destitute days. He is the host of “The Steve Harvey Show” and “Family Feud.”
Harvey began his adventure in Welch, West Virginia. Broderick Stephen Harvey was born to Jesse Harvey, a coal miner, and Eloise Vera, and was named after Broderick Crawford, the star from “Highway Patrol.”
Due to his noticeable stutter, he was given the unusual nickname “Va-Va-Vroom” as a child. However, a neighborhood deli worker saved his life by teaching him to repeat difficult words in his brain at least three times before pronouncing them out loud.
His family then relocated to Cleveland, Ohio, where a street was eventually named after him. After graduating from Glenville High School, he attended Kent State University and subsequently West Virginia University.
To make ends meet as a young man, Harvey took on an unusual list of menial jobs. He worked as a mailman, a carpet cleaner, an insurance salesman, a boxer, and a car autoworker.
While many artists start working on their future careers at a young age, Harvey was an exception. He didn’t start stand-up comedy until he was in his late twenties. He got his first job when he was 27 years old.
His choice to leave his work to pursue a career as a comedian did not sit well with his wife, Marcia, and the couple divorced. Harvey, on the other hand, took a gamble and landed his first gig at Cleveland’s Hilarities Comedy Club.
He worked a few jobs here and there, but the money he earned was insufficient. He was living on as little as $50 per week to support his twin daughters, Brandi and Karli, who are now 39 years old.
During this time, Harvey would become homeless, living in his 1976 Ford Tempo whenever he took on jobs that did not afford housing. If only to get to comedy gigs, he would steal gas from gas stations.
He battled to subsist for three years, showering at swimming pool showers and gas stations. He survived primarily on bologna sandwiches and used his cooler as a refrigerator. Even when he was at his lowest, he persisted. He even regarded that point in his life as “an ugly and painful experience”.
He once sat down and began to cry, but then he heard a voice telling him to keep walking and he would reach regions he had never visited before. He said it felt as if God was calling to him and urging him to keep going.
And he persevered, winning a high-profile role on “Showtime at the Apollo” soon after, and the gigs kept coming. He ultimately earned a sitcom role, followed by a role on “Cedric the Entertainer,” and he hasn’t looked back since.
Harvey’s story is one of triumph over adversity and the epitome of rags to riches. He changed his life by working hard and never taking a break because, as he puts it, he’s still trying to get out of homelessness.
The author of “Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man” climbed his way to the top of the entertainment industry, earning the moniker of “Hardest Working Man in Show Business,” and he shows no signs of slowing down. Harvey is now the owner of a multibillion-dollar business empire.
Harvey’s net worth is estimated to be $100 million, thanks to his work as a stand-up comedian, bestselling author, movie actor, and radio and TV personality.
Away from work, Harvey is proud of his mixed family, which includes a beautiful and hardworking wife, seven children, and five grandchildren.
Harvey’s love life, like his success, has not always been simple. He’s been through three marriages and two divorces.
