Gibbons Biography
Leeza Gibbons is well-known for both her syndicated talk show, Leeza, and her work as a journalist and co-host for Entertainment Tonight. In 2013, she received the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Host in a Lifestyle or Travel program for My Generation, and her book Take 2 went on to become a bestseller. She won Celebrity Apprentice in 2015 and raised $714,000 for Leeza’s Care Connection, her charity.
Leeza completed her high school education at Irmo. Gibbons graduated with honors from the University of South Carolina’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication, having completed his high school education. She belonged to the university’s Delta Delta Delta sorority.
Gibbons Age
She is 67 years old as of March 26, 2024. She was born on 26 March 1957 in Hartsville, South Carolina, United States.
Gibbons Husband and Marriage
Gibbons has been married four times. From 1980 to 1982, she was wed to John Hicks. She met British actor Christopher Quinten in 1988 when they both competed in the New Zealand Telethon, and the two were married from 1989 to 1991. Jordan Alexandra (Lexi) Gibbons is her daughter, and Quinten is her father. Troy and Nathan Daniel, Leeza Gibbons’ two boys, are from her 1991–2005 marriage to actor Stephen Meadows. She wed Steven Fenton, a best-selling novelist in the New York Times, in Beverly Hills in 2011. Fenton is the son of Frank M. Fenton, a former Beverly Hills mayor.
Gibbons Family (Parents and Siblings)
Jean Gibbons and Dr. Carlos Gibbons are the parents of Leeza. Gibbons is the brother of Carlos Jr. and the sister of Cammy. Leeza Gibbons was raised in the Whitehall neighborhood of Columbia, South Carolina. Alzheimer’s disease has been identified in both her mother and grandmother.
Gibbons Height
Leeza stands a height of 5 feet 8 inches (1.73m).
Gibbons Career
Beginning in Spartanburg, South Carolina, at WSPA-TV, Gibbons began his career in television. She later moved to sister station WFAA-TV in Dallas after serving as co-host of PM Magazine for KFDM-TV in Beaumont, Texas. The new role came with media attention and was a significant career boost. After joining WCBS-TV in 1983, Gibbons hosted Two on the Town, a show based on PM Magazine, in New York City. Robb Weller co-hosted with her. Both of them joined Entertainment Tonight the next year, with Gibbons serving as a reporter and co-anchor of the show is weekend version.
Gibbons joined forces with Guthy-Renker in the early to mid-1990s, breaking new ground in the direct response industry. She starred in two consecutive blockbusters, Personal Power 2 and Get the Edge, alongside a young Tony Robbins, making her the first TV personality on a daily program to be included in an infomercial.
From June 1993 to September 2000, Leeza’s chat show on NBC and through syndicated programming ran. John & Leeza from Hollywood, featuring former Entertainment Tonight co-host John Tesh, was the original name of the program. After seven months, Tesh was fired from the show, and Gibbons hosted the rest of the run.
Gibbons hosted and served as managing editor of the television program Extra from 2001 to 2003. She co-hosted and served as executive producer of the syndicated news magazine program America Now from 2011 to 2015, in addition to hosting the PBS chat show My Generation from 2011 to 2014.
Gibbons was the host of the radio program Blockbuster Top 25 Countdown with Leeza Gibbons throughout the 1990s. She provided entertainment news, recorded interviews, and a countdown of the top tracks in Adult Contemporary and Hot Adult Contemporary genres. The program was renamed Leeza Gibbons’ Top 25 Countdown after Blockbuster Video ceased to sponsor it in 1999. The countdown was removed in January 2001, and the program was rebranded as Leeza Gibbons’ Hollywood Confidential. It ran until 2013.
Gibbons’s work on children’s concerns earned her the Congressional Horizon Award (1998) in 1998. Along with Guthy-Renker, Gibbons introduced her mineral makeup line, Sheer Cover Studio, at the beginning of the 2000s. Sheer Cover is still available for purchase globally. The American Academy of Neurology awarded Gibbons the Public Leadership in Neurology Award in 2005 in recognition of his efforts to increase public awareness of Alzheimer’s disease.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California announced Gibbons’ appointment to the board that governs the state’s stem cell research organization on November 14, 2007, taking the place of a patient advocate for Alzheimer’s disease. Caregivers of people with memory impairments are the target audience for her charity organization, Leeza’s Place. Her mother, who passed away in May 2008 after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, inspired her to work toward increasing awareness of memory issues in her own family.
From June 23–27, 2008, Gibbons took Meredith Vieira’s place on the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire show for a week. Take Your Oxygen First: Protecting Your Health and Happiness While Caring for a Loved One with Memory Loss, Gibbons’ new book, was released in May 2009. It chronicles Leeza’s family’s personal battle with Alzheimer’s disease following her mother’s diagnosis.
For his work on the PBS series My Generation, Gibbons was honored with a 2013 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lifestyle/Travel Host. She was the 2015 Celebrity Apprentice reality game show winner on NBC. Jan. 2, 2017, was her first Rose Parade co-hosting day. When Gibbons won the 2015 Icon award from the Electronic Retailing Association, it was revealed that his sales had surpassed $1 billion. The longest studio/talent relationship in the history of infomercials is hers with Guthy-Renker.
Gibbons Net Worth
Leeza has an estimated net worth of $40 million.