Stephen Colbert Biography

Early Life Of Stephen Colbert

Stephen Colbert was born on May 13, 1964, in Washington D.C. He is the son of parents James William Colbert Jr. and Lorna Elizabeth. He is the youngest among his 10 other siblings. He was born and raised in a Catholic family, while he spent most of his childhood in James Island, South Carolina.

Colbert’s father was a dean for Saint Louis University, Yale University, and also the Medical University of South Carolina, while his mother was a homemaker. Colbert’s father and two of his siblings died in a plane crash on September 11, 1974, when he was just 10 years old.

Later, Stephen along with his remaining family moved to a more urban setting where he found difficulty settling and making friends. He graduated from Northwestern’s school of communication in 1986.

Stephen Colbert's Career

Colbert began his career after his graduation. He created a sketch comedy for Comedy Central, named Exit 57, along with his cast members Amy Sedaris and Paul Dinell. The show became a success and ran for two years until 1997.

Later, Colbert joined The Daily Show working as a correspondent. The show gave him wide coverage and eventually, he landed his own show, The Colbert Report in 2005 where he used his satirical humor to comment on the political affairs.

Colbert has won nine Primetime Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards, and two Peabody Awards.

In September 2015, he hosted the CBS talk program The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Here's the latest clip of his show:

Stephen Colbert's Personal Life

Stephen Colbert is a married man and is a father to three children. He got hitched to Evelyn McGee-Colbert in 1993 and has three kids named, Madeleine Colbert (born 1995), Peter Colbert (born 1998), and John Colbert (born 2002).

The couple met in the early 1990 and both appeared in an episode of Strangers with Candy, where Evelyn played as Colbert's mother. McGee-Colbert is the daughter of Charleston civil litigator Joseph McGee, of the firm Buist Moore Smythe McGee. Prior to this, Colbert had an affair with an American singer, Charlene.

Also, see: Full details of Stephen Colbert's married life with his wife

During his college and Second City years, Colbert suffered from bouts of depression and anxiety, for which he had to be medicated. Colbert's mother died at the age of 92 on June 12, 2013, after a period of ill health.

During a 2018 interview, he revealed with Rolling Stones about his struggle with anxiety and depression.

He said,

"I needed to be medicated when I was younger to deal with my anxiety that I had thrown my life away by attempting to do something that so few people actually get away with, or succeed at."

Furthermore, he emphasized and explained how it affected his married life.

"I was actually medicated. I mean, in the most common, prosaic way. Xanax was just lovely. Y’know, for a while. And then I realized that the gears were still smoking. I just couldn’t hear them anymore. But I could feel them, I could feel the gearbox heating up and smoke pouring out of me, but I was no longer walking around a couch."

His wife helped and supported him a lot to fight back all the issues.

Stephen Colbert's Net Worth

Stephen Colbert's net worth is estimated to be $45 million.

His source of income includes his earnings from his career as a comedian, writer, producer, actor, media critics, and television host. He reportedly pockets an annual salary of $6 million.