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Steve Harvey is one of the most charismatic men on television. From comedy to radio to hosting game shows, Harvey has done just about everything during his three decades in showbiz.
However, the host wasn’t always the successful funnyman fans now know him as today—he’s had to overcome his fair share of obstacles, including on-screen blips, controversial statements, and a divorce that almost cost him everything. Let’s dive deeper into the past loves and tumultuous life of Steve Harvey.
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A Star is Born
On January 17, 1957, in Welch, West Virginia, coal miner Jesse Harvey and his wife Eloise Vera welcomed a baby boy. In honor of iconic actor Broderick Crawford, they named their son Broderick Stephen Harvey.
Unlike many of the big names in Hollywood these days, Harvey came from truly humble beginnings. With four older siblings, non-famous parents, and no fast track into the industry, it wasn’t a sure thing that he would find his way to stardom—and it certainly took him a long time to get there.
Early Struggle
When Steve was four, the Harvey family moved to Cleveland, Ohio. During his early years, he suffered from a severe stuttering problem that he worked hard to overcome. It was something that he never tried to hide. Harvey later shared that his friends even gave him the nickname “Va-va-voom” after he stuttered on the letter “v” in class.
By the time he got to junior high, he was a well-known person in his neighborhood and had members of the community trying to help him overcome it using unconventional methods. They had no idea how successful he’d become.
Known in the Community
A man at Harvey’s local deli once promised him that if he spoke clearly, he’d get candy. It’s an interaction Harvey never forgot. “He taught me before you say anything, say it to yourself three times. Take your time and speak on the exhale,” Harvey recalled to Parade.
Harvey came from a regular working class family and it was his upbringing that made him aspirational. “My parents were very loving. They had no money, but my mother gave me faith and my father taught me a work ethic,” he told the news outlet.
College Dropout
Harvey's work ethic allowed him to focus during his teenage years. He graduated high school in 1974 and became the first in his family to go to college, majored in advertising at Kent State University.
He became involved in Greek life as a member of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity. But in his third year, he dropped out and never graduated—a decision he later came to regret. “It really threw my life into a downward spiral, and I regret not getting that degree,” he told Parade of the experience. Determined not to let it ruin his life, Harvey got to work in other areas—lots of them.
Steve of All Trades
However, Harvey didn’t set his sights on pursuing a career in comedy right away. He became a jack of all trades, with jobs as an auto worker, a carpet cleaner, a mail carrier, and even a boxer. It was in his last job before trying his hand at comedy that he met Marcia, the woman who would later become his first wife.
While working as an insurance salesman, Harvey was introduced to Marcia through a mutual friend. The two hit it off, and in 1981, when Steve was 24 years old, the two tied the knot.
Taking a Chance
The young newlyweds were quick to start a family. They welcomed twin girls Brandi and Karli on August 20, 1982. Steve was a new father still working in insurance sales, but it was around this time that he decided where he wanted to take his career next.
Taking a Chance
The young newlyweds were quick to start a family. They welcomed twin girls Brandi and Karli on August 20, 1982. Steve was a new father still working in insurance sales, but it was around this time that he decided where he wanted to take his career next.
First Time Lucky
In his very first attempt at comedy, Steve Harvey proved he had what it takes. He won $50 and the rest was history. Only kidding—it took some serious hard work to get from one win to a comedy empire and Harvey learned this the hard way.
Spurred on by his win, Harvey decided to quit his insurance salesman job, confident that he would soon make it in the comedy world. His wife Marcia was less than pleased with her husband’s decision. In fact, it was the first disagreement in a line of many that would be hard to come back from.
Flop First Year
Harvey was sure that he needed to take this chance and pursue comedy, even though his kids were relying on him financially. Giving up a stable job for this new career path was risky, and in his first year, Harvey told People that he only made $3,000 as a full-time comedian. It seemed like things were over before they even began.
Harvey’s financial issues and the new intense focus on his career put a strain on his relationship with Marcia and it caused a total breakdown in their marriage. The couple ended up separating. That's when things hit rock bottom for Harvey.
Tough Years
With his sporadic paychecks going mostly to Marcia and their children, Harvey didn’t have much left over. In the late 1980s, many of his gigs fell through and he became homeless.
Life on the road is far from glamorous for most, but for Harvey, it became almost unbearable. Still determined to get exposure and travel for gigs, he once resorted to stealing fuel from a gas station to make it to a gig. Still, he wasn’t going to give up on his dream.
Not Giving Up
During this time, his only solace was when the gig organizers would put him up in a hotel for the night. When that wasn’t possible, he was left to sleep in his car, showering in rest-stop bathrooms and public swimming pool facilities.
Even though he thought that a week was the maximum time someone could endure this lifestyle, he did so from the ages of 30 to 33. “It was crushing. I realized, ‘You’re on your own. You have nothing or no one.’ All I knew was that I could make people laugh,” Harvey candidly told People.
Helping Hand
It was this optimism that eventually saved him. During the most difficult period of his life, the comedian was struggling more than ever to make ends meet. Luckily, there were people looking out for him, namely Rich and Becky Liss.
In a 2013 episode of his afternoon show Steve Harvey, he gave thanks to the Orlando couple who helped him at his lowest. "When I became a comedian at 27, I didn't have money to travel. They gave me an account at their travel agency and, man, I ran up a bill that was $11,000 just traveling and try to make it,” he recalled.
Breakthrough at Last
“Them people right there, man, they helped me out!" he told his viewers in a heartwarming nod to the couple. Not much is known about their relationship, but Harvey has never forgotten how they supported him before he was a household name. Finally, in 1991 he overcame his struggle.
While Marcia and Steve hadn’t yet formally separated, they welcomed their son Broderick Harvey Jr., a decade after their first children. However, Harvey was still absent in his kids' lives as he continued to hustle in the comedy circuit. After a grueling eight years of struggling as a comedian, he was offered a breakthrough gig that was about to change everything.
One Last Chance
Even at his lowest, Harvey knew he couldn’t give up. “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,’” Harvey told People.
Sure enough, after becoming a finalist in the 1990 National Comedy Search, doors were opened for him. He was offered a gig on It’s Showtime at the Apollo, which would bring him exposure on national television. The only problem was that it was being taped in New York, and Harvey was in Florida. Was he about to miss his big break?
Big Break
Harvey knew how much this could change things, so in his true optimistic fashion, he made it work. He was able to book two stand-up gigs in Florida that weekend, earning just enough to cover the airfare to New York and make it in time.
Audiences watched and quickly fell in love with Steve Harvey’s charismatic tone and his observational comedy skills. His performance ended up landing him a stint as host following on from Mark Curry. Hosting came naturally to Harvey and it was clear that this was what he was meant to be doing. His years of struggle were finally paying off. He had no idea that this was only the beginning.
Big Moves
After finding success in stand-up comedy, Harvey quickly moved to the world of television. The same year that he finalized his divorce from his wife Marcia, Harvey landed his first starring acting role in the 1994 ABC sitcom series Me and the Boys, playing a widowed father of three.
Following this role, networks started taking Harvey seriously as an actor. Just one year after it ended, Harvey landed his starring role in The Steve Harvey Show, of course, named after himself, but it didn't follow his life story. Starring alongside him was longtime friend Cedric the Entertainer. But there was far more in the pipeline for Harvey.
Making History
The show was popular, but it didn’t quite take off in the mainstream, and after one season it was canceled. Following the cancelation, Harvey continued to put his efforts into stand-up comedy. 1995 saw Harvey land his own comedy special—his first major headliner—in the HBO Comedy Half Hour: Steve Harvey.
In 1997 Harvey performed in the Kings of Comedy tour alongside fellow comedians Cedric the Entertainer, the late Bernie Mac, and D.L. Hughley, in what became one of the highest-grossing comedy tours in history.
Wife Number Two
To the eyes of many, it seemed like Harvey prioritized his career over his love life while he made his name in comedy. While a life on the road and a drive to succeed might have cost Harvey his first marriage, it wasn’t going to stop him from finding love again.
Harvey met Mary Lee Shackleford in the early 1990s while she was working as a makeup artist at a cosmetics counter in Arlington, Texas. It's been reported that Harvey was still with Marcia when the two met, but they didn’t make it official until more than two years after Harvey’s divorce.
Tying the Knot Again
While Harvey was making his way through the ranks in comedy, he was also making strides in his personal life at the same time. After a few years of dating, Steve and Mary got married on June 21, 1996. On July 18, 1997, the pair welcomed their first child together, a son named Wynton Harvey.
Steve Harvey had already faced tough times in parenting his three children from his first marriage, so having a fourth child and a new marriage weren’t completely smooth sailing, either.
New Directions
In 2000, The Steve Harvey Show was still somewhat of a hit, and Harvey decided to take his career in a new direction. September of that year saw Harvey announce that he was becoming the host of his own radio show, The Steve Harvey Morning Show—a surprising move to those who knew him along with those who didn’t.
Though people throughout the industry thought this could be the beginning of the end of Harvey’s career, it proved to be quite the opposite. The Los Angeles-based radio breakfast program was a hit, which at its peak, aired on 70 radio stations and reached approximately six million weekly listeners. But Harvey was just getting started.
Busy Season
The early 2000s saw Steve Harvey’s career take on leaps and bounds as he earned a place in the nation’s hearts as an all-around funnyman. While taking the early-morning radio slot, Harvey also found himself starring in the 2003 movie The Fighting Temptations alongside none other than Beyoncé.
The same year he starred in Love Don’t Cost a Thing, and he had roles in Johnson Family Vacation and You Got Served just one year later. In 2005, he lent his voice to the role of Buzz in Racing Stripes. But that same year, things started getting rocky in his personal life.
Bumps in the Road
After a decade of marriage, Steve and Mary divorced in November 2005. Harvey didn’t know it yet, but this wouldn’t be the last time he heard from Mary.
Aiming to keep his personal life out of the spotlight, Harvey continued on the comedy circuit and soon released another comedy special. But behind the scenes, he was already moving on. This time, though, he reconnected with a figure from his past who was about to turn his entire life around.
Meeting Marjorie
Marjorie Elaine Bridges first encountered Steve Harvey, as many others did, as an audience member at one of his shows at The Comedy Zone in Memphis, Tennessee in the 1990s. She sat in the front row and expected a regular show like any other. Instead, she had an interaction she’d never forget.
"I was late, and I thought he was gonna give me the business because he got real quiet. He was just staring at me. I thought I was going to become part of the show," Marjorie later said on The Steve Harvey Show. "He finally realized, 'Oh, I gotta say something,'” she recalled.
Love at First Sight
Sure enough, Harvey said something. While she might have thought it was a joke at the time, neither of them could predict how true it would one day be. Gesturing to Marjorie in front of the audience, Harvey practically confessed that it was love at first sight.
“I'm sorry. I don't know who this is, but I'm gonna marry her,” she recalled on his show. They connected after the show and began dating. While their spark was immediate, it didn’t last.
All in Good Time
After just a few weeks, things took a turn. "I knew he was The One shortly after I started [dating] him … but then he just left. Disappeared," Marjorie told Essence in 2014. This was the period where Harvey was suffering financially and focusing everything he could muster on his career.
Even though it didn’t work out back then, in 2005, one decade and two respective marriages later, the pair reconnected. Harvey was freshly single again and had just finished his sitcom. One unexpected person encouraged him to reunite with Marjorie.
Second Chance
Harvey’s bodyguard had become a close friend of his at the beginning of his career and seen him struggle through his roughest patch and a rocky marriage with Mary Shackelford. It was he who gave Harvey an all-important wake-up call. “He told me, ‘Look, the only time I’ve ever seen you happy was when you were with that woman Marjorie,” Harvey recalled to People.
“Now before you go and do something stupid and marry another woman, I’m calling her,'” he continued. Sure enough, that’s exactly what he did. It was third time the charm for Harvey because this time, it was the real thing.
Blended Family
Steve and Marjorie wasted no time in getting back together and in their words. “It was effortless,” Marjorie told People. In June 2007, they got married. Their reunion seemed to open doors for both of them.
“It was like being reborn. I messed up so many times in my life. She made all the difference. When you’re happy at home, you can make a lot of things happen.” Harvey told People. For the happy couple, the next step was bringing everyone together. That included Steve’s three children from his first marriage and Wynton from his second, along with Marjorie’s three children from her previous marriage.
Making Amends
Steve proved that this time, he was in it for the long haul and ready to be a good father by formally adopting Marjorie’s children: Morgan Jason, and Lori. He also reconciled with his first daughters, Brandi and Karli, once they were adults and they were able to put their difficult past behind them.
“Years later they said to me, ‘Dad, we didn’t understand why you left us, but we know now you had to go. You didn’t just belong to us. You belonged to the world,’” as People reported. Now that things seemed peachy for Steve Harvey, he was keen to share his wisdom with the world.
Becoming an Author
In the midst of his happy marriage, Harvey decided his career was in need of yet another shake-up. Though this time, it wasn’t comedy-related. It has to do with something else he’d become an expert in over the years: relationships.
In 2009, Harvey ticked another career milestone off his list by becoming a bestselling author and self-help guru with his book Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man. It was so successful that it even inspired a feature film, Think Like a Man, in which Harvey served as executive producer and had a cameo in. He was about to have his next big break.
Joining the "Feud"
In September 2010, Harvey took on the role that most people these days would know him for. Alongside his radio show and other ventures, he took over as host of the iconic daytime game show Family Feud. With it came higher ratings and new viewership.
He pretty much revived the show, and he now holds the longest tenure of any Feud host. In 2013, Harvey’s work earned him the honor of being the first double host nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award, with nominations for Talk Show and Game Show host. The same year, he was also honored with a Hollywood Walk of Fame star.
Mary’s Back
At this point, it seemed like things couldn’t have been going better for Harvey. But as much as he was in the spotlight on our screens and in our ears daily, there were problems bubbling under the surface that he tried to keep hidden.
While little has been heard from Steve’s first wife Marcia since she and Harvey divorced, the same can’t be said for Mary Shackelford. In 2011, things got messy once again as Mary came out to accuse Harvey of some pretty serious things.
Things Got Messy
Back in April 2011, Mary Shackelford alleged that she suffered greatly following her 2005 divorce from Harvey. She released a video slamming Harvey and claiming that her life had never been the same since the divorce, and that she’d never received her settlement after their split.
She accused him of child endangerment, torture, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and more, as E! News reported. "Steve Harvey owes me $50 million and I want him arrested for violating my civil rights … For what he's done to me, I want to see Steve Harvey behind bars," she said in her video.
Nothing’s Stopping Harvey
The allegations would have been enough to make a serious dent in Harvey’s career and threaten his marriage. But after he denied them and Mary lost the lawsuit, this wasn't enough to bring down Harvey’s empire.
However, cheating rumors have been flying around since his second marriage back in the nineties. Still, Harvey insists that rumors like these won't break him and Marjorie up—instead, they’ve made the couple stronger. "You're not going to split us up, and we're not goin' nowhere, and she is none of what you said she is," he told E! News.
Hanging Up the Hat
Amidst the trouble in his personal life, Harvey continued to make waves on television and on the radio. In 2012, he decided to say an official goodbye to the thing that made him famous in the first place: comedy.
On August 2, 2012, Steve Harvey performed his final stand-up act at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, ending an astonishing 27-year career as a stand-up comedian. He put the time he wasn’t doing comedy to good use right away, as he focused his efforts on the Steve & Marjorie Harvey Foundation, which was set up to provide youth outreach services and mentoring for the younger generation.
Learning From His Pitfalls
However, it's not always been all about comedy for Steve Harvey—there are some things he’s always been serious about. He’s made it clear that he wants to use his platform to help others achieve their goals and find success, especially in ways that he didn’t.
In his blended family of seven children, he's been keen to make sure that each one got a college education—something he didn't do. While Harvey worked to right his previous wrongs, he also faced some more blunders along the way.
Controversies, Blunders, and Miss Universe
In 2015, it wasn't Harvey's comedy that made headlines—it was a live TV blunder. While hosting the Miss Universe pageant, Harvey announced that Miss Colombia, Ariadna Gutierrez, had won the competition. But Miss Colombia was actually runner-up and Miss Philippines Pia Alonso Wurtzbach was the real winner.
Blaming the mix-up on the teleprompter, caused waves across the world and he later described the incident to Us Weekly as “the worst week of my life.”
Don’t Talk to Him
Though people criticized him for the mistake for years later, it didn’t affect his career on a big scale. In fact, he flew under the radar until a letter he wrote in 2017 to his talk show employees brought him back under the microscope again.
The memo allegedly asked his staff members not to approach him in his dressing room or the hallway—a surprising move for someone who’s always presented himself as friendly and approachable. Harvey defended the letter, explaining that his employees were taking advantage of his open-door policy while he tried to do his job, as Us Weekly reported. Awkward!
Still on the Up
Even blunders like these weren’t enough to stop Steve Harvey’s inimitable career. He was still on a roll. In 2016, he released another inspirational book titled Leap: Take the Leap of Faith to Achieve Your Life of Abundance. In the same year became host and co-creator of two new shows: a revival of Showtime at the Apollo and Little Big Shots.
Harvey also united all his businesses under the new name Steve Harvey Global in 2017 in another smart career move. These days, he’s moved his daily commitments to Los Angeles so he doesn’t have to split his time and he can be closer to family.
Media Mogul
In 2018, Harvey’s talk show Steve was dropped by the network in favor of Kelly Clarkson’s talk show. The final episode aired in 2019, the same year he was invited back to host another Miss Universe final and suffered yet another blunder.
Now, though, viewers can watch Steve Harvey on Family Feud, Celebrity Family Feud, Family Feud Africa, and Judge Steve Harvey. According to Forbes, with all of his various endeavors, he's racked up a net worth of $45 million.
From Homeless to Millionaire
Harvey went from being homeless and chasing a dream to relishing in his impressive media empire. Even now that he’s in a happy marriage with a beautiful growing family, as well as his continued TV success in multiple avenues, he’s not showing any signs of stopping.
The reason for his hustling attitude is simple—he never wants to be where he once was again. “I’m running from homelessness. 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,” he told People.
Looking to the Future
While he’s now regarded as one of the kings of daytime television, things haven’t always been easy for Steve Harvey. From the grueling '80s struggle to break into comedy to the glittering lights of Hollywood, there’s no doubt that Harvey has left his mark on the entertainment industry, with plenty of career triumphs and public blunders along the way.
We wish Steve Harvey and the rest of his family all the best in the future, and we can only wonder what new heights the charismatic TV legend will reach. It’s clear that his story is far from over—there’s plenty more laughter to be had.
