Skip to main content

From homeless to $100m! Steve Harvey opens up about overcoming homelessness


Comedian, actor, talk show host and best selling author, Steve Harvey has had some ups and downs and now the comedian is opening up about being homeless at the beginning of his career. His rags-to-riches tale is one of integrity, ingenuity and success.

For an interview with People, Harvey revealed that while he's now amassed an empire estimated to be worth $100 million, he was once homeless and living out of his Ford Tempo. The Family Feud hosts says that there were moments when he wasn't sure how he'd make it through.

"It kills me when I hear very successful people say, 'I always knew I would get here,' " he says. "I didn't. I always hoped I would get somewhere, but this is above and beyond. My imagination didn't even go this big."

"Everybody has a moment when they turn back, when you say to yourself, 'This is too much,' I had it on several occasions."

And, when Harvey realized that he'd hit his lowest point he still found a way to get through it.

"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.'"

And he got there! His bestselling 2009 bookAct Like a Lady, Think Like a Man has been adapted into a blockbuster film and a sequel. He now hosts a syndicated radio show as well as the game show Family Feud and a hit daytime talk show, The Steve Harvey Show and most recently he hosted NBC's hit variety series Little Big Shots.

But when he first quit his job to take a chance at being a comedian, he found himself separated from his wife, on his own and living on as little as $50 a week.

"That was an ugly period, just very painful," he says of becoming homeless in the late '80s. Everybody has a moment when they turn back, when you say to yourself, 'This is too much,' " Harvey says. "I had it on several occasions."

Success shortly followed, with Harvey landing a high-profile gig performing on Showtime at the Apollo in 1993, and eventually, a sitcom, and a spot on Cedric the Entertainer and the late Bernie Mac's Original Kings of Comedy tour.

Even now, though, with a happy marriage and family life, as well as his status as a television mainstay, Harvey says he can't slow down.

"I'm running from homelessness," he shares. "I can't ever be in that position again. If my show gets canceled, I've got three more. I don't have any free time, but I have 12 jobs."

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

2 DIED IN A MULTIPLE.......

Durban - Two people have died in a multi-vehicle smash on the N2 near Queen Nandi drive in Durban. KwaZulu-Natal emergency services spokesperson Robert Mckenzie said the crash involved two trucks and four cars. He said traffic in both directions on the N2 was severely affected. Paramedics were on the scene and trying to gain access to the cab of one of the overturned trucks, said Mckenzie. The cause of the crash is not yet known

Young Student Flogged In Iran

More than 30 students who partied at a graduation ceremony in northern Iran have received 99 lashes each for violating the Islamic republic's morality code, a news agency reported. "Following a report about a large number of young boys and girls mingling together in a villa around Qazvin, all those taking part in the party were arrested immediately," Mizanonline quoted on Thursday the town's prosecutor general as saying. Esmail Sadeghi Niyaraki said the youths were put on trial and each sentenced to 99 lashes, a punishment which morality police carried out the same day "so to be a lesson for those who attempt to breach the conventions". No date was given. "The arrest of this many young girls and boys, who were half-naked, consuming alcohol and were engaged in indecent behaviour, hurt the public opinion," the official said. "Thank God, within less than 24 hours, interrogation, investigation, trial, issue of verdict and carrying out the ver...

Higuian closes in on juventus move

Gonzalo Higuain has undergone a medical with Juventus and agreed personal terms as he closes in on a move to the Serie A champions. The Bianconeri have agreed to pay the Argentina international's €94 million release clause, with Napoli set to receive the money in two sets of €47m installments. Higuain will sign a four year-contract with the Turin outfit, with his deal worth €7m-a-year.