Geraldo Rivera Net Worth

Geraldo Rivera's Quotes

• We have no right to complain about any condition affecting the quality of our lives, unless we are doing something about it.

Interesting Facts about Geraldo Rivera

1. Chosen by People magazine as one of the "50 Most Beautiful People" in the world. [1991]
2. His ex-wife, Edie Vonnegut, is Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s daughter. His autobiography, written in 1991, is "Exposing Myself".
3. In his autobiography, he revealed his affairs with Bette Midler, Liza Minnelli, Judy Collins, Chris Evert, Margaret Trudeau, Marion Javits, and at least 1000 other women. He first made a name for himself as a lawyer defending Harlems's largely Hispanic Young Lords gang. His brother is newscaster Craig Rivera, who previously gained experience as Geraldo's producer at ABC News.
4. He hosted the television segment that gave the American public the first chance of seeing the Zapruder film of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
5. His most famous program was The Mystery of Al Capone's Vaults (1986) that aired in April 1986. When Chicago's Lexington Hotel was being demolished, a sealed vault was discovered. Rivera hosted the live program that was going to climax with the opening of the vault, supposedly revealing Al Capone's treasure or a more gruesome find. The biggest find was an empty whiskey bottle. The hype generated a record rating of 57 with an estimated audience of 30,000,000. The term "Al Capone's Vault" has come to mean any overhyped event that leads to nothing.
6. Allegedly married first wife Linda Coblentz in part to avoid the Vietnam War draft.
7. Children: Isabella Holmes (b. 7 November 1992) and Simone Cruickshank (b. September 1994) by C. C. Dyer; Gabriel Miguel (b. 2 July 1979) by Sherryl Raymond; Cruz (b. 1987) by a previous relationship; Solita Liliana (b. August 2005) by Erica Levy.
8. Exposed deplorable conditions in "Willowbrook State School," an institution for people with developmental disabilities, in early 1972. Publicity from the class-action lawsuit against the state of New York that soon followed was a major contributing factor in the passing of a federal law called "Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act of 1980.".
9. His mother, Lillie/Lilian Friedman (1919-June 3, 2018), was a Jewish American of Russian Jewish ancestry, daughter of Isaac Michael and Tillie Krivel Friedman. She was born in New Jersey, to an Orthodox Jewish family from Dolhinov, Belarus. They had recently lived in various provinces in Canada. His father, Cruz "Allen" Rivera (October 1915-November 1987), was a Puerto Rican of Spanish ancestry, who was raised Roman Catholic. Lilian and Cruz moved to Florida, where Cruz had a fatal heart attack on Thanksgiving Day of 1987 and, as Geraldo mentioned in light of the British Petrolum disaster, where his ashes were scattered. The widowed Lillian Rivera subsequently lived in Sarasota and Siesta Key. She continued to be close to her children, all of whom she had raised Jewish, and even appeared with Craig on one episode of 'Geraldo at Large' from Florida via satellite as well as on Geraldo's 40th anniversary special in studio.Meanwhile, Geraldo named his youngest son, Cruz, in honor of his father, and his youngest child, Solita Liliana, in honor of his Judaism and his mother.
10. Listed on his birth certificate as Gerald Michael Riviera, though his parents' surname is Rivera. In his autobiography "Exposing Myself," Rivera said that he believed his mother was attempting to deflect future discrimination from her children by misspelling their surname on their birth certificates, as they were the products of a mixed marriage.
11. NBC executive Brandon Tartikoff once said of him: "There are two words that serve as a signal that you're operating in an area of questionable taste. Those words are 'Geraldo Rivera.'"
12. His fourth wife, C.C. Dyer, did not take his last name when they married.
13. The fictional news anchorman character Hector Ramirez which appeared in several popular cartoon series during the 1980s (Action Force (1985), Transformers (1984), Jem (1985) and InHumanoids (1986), all produced by Marvel-Sunbow Production) was a parody of Rivera.
14. Geraldo Rivera and Erica Levy welcomed their daughter, Solita Liliana, on August 2, 2005. He was 62, and she was 30 at the time of Sol's birth. This was his fifth child and third daughter, while it was her first and only child. He has also since said that after having five children, he's "done" .
15. Wife Erica Levy's mother is Nancy and father is Howard Levy, who was a prostate cancer survivor; but died recently.
16. Siblings are Craig Rivera, Sharon Rivera, and Irene Rivera Hurst. Cousin is Wilfredo Rivera, adopted by Geraldo's parents.
17. He underwent knee replacement surgery on his left knee on September 28, 2009. He also underwent back surgery after a trip to Afghanistan, and was off work for two weeks.
18. Ex-brother-in-law of Nanny Vonnegut.
19. His son Gabe Rivera married Dr. Deborah Rish in May 2009. Thus, Gabe is the son-in-law of one of the doctors who investigated Michael Jackson in Jackson's 1993 criminal case.
20. Good friend of John Lennon and Jose Baez.