A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a home with a private nightclub, and an island with
the Fountain of Youth.
David Copperfield might appear to have it all, but is it just an illusion?
Keep watching as we reveal all of this magician’s secrets.
David Copperfield currently holds 11 Guinness World Records, including most tickets sold
worldwide by a solo entertainer, highest earnings for a magician for the noted year, the highest
career earnings as a magician, the largest illusion ever staged, and the most magic shows
performed in a year.
As reported by Guinness World Records, Copperfield was awarded the record for most tickets sold
worldwide by a solo entertainer in 2004 after selling approximately 39,690,000 show tickets
between 1984 and 2004.
The same year he was awarded the record for the highest career earnings as a magician,
as he earned a net sum of $661.5 million between 1984 and 2004.
In May 2000, Copperfield became the owner of the most expensive poster depicting magic
sold at auction with his purchase of a $55,000 1914 lithograph, depicting Harry Houdini's
Water Torture Cell escape.
Guinness World Records reports David Copperfield was awarded with the record for the most magic
shows performed in a year in 1994 when he performed 642 shows in seven countries.
However, he was not awarded with the record for the highest annual earnings within a year
until 2018, for earning $62 million between July 2017 and July 2018.
In 1983, Copperfield was awarded for the largest illusion ever staged, for his vanishing Statue
of Liberty illusion, which he performed on a CBS television special.
"It was torture for me.
The whole thing was torture, but it was glorious torture."
In 2004, David Copperfield was awarded the Guinness World Record for owning the largest
magic work archive in the world.
The collection, which included an estimated 61,673 items at the time, is housed in the
magician's International Museum and Library of Conjuring Arts.
As reported by Forbes, David Copperfield owns half of Harry Houdini's personal library as
well as the largest collection of Houdini's other memorabilia — including the only known
recording of the legendary magician's voice.
"Introducing my latest invention, the water torture chamber."
Copperfield also owns Harry Houdini's Mirror Cuff Escape Award, which he was awarded by
London's Daily Mirror newspaper in 1904, one of Houdini's straitjackets, the famous Iron
Maiden Challenge device, several pairs of Houdini's handcuffs, and one of his sets of
lock picks.
David Copperfield's magic work archive also includes an antique levitation device, which
was built by an unknown French artist, an intricate monkey automaton, and several complex
automatons and mystery clocks created by Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin.
Forbes reports David Copperfield also owns Dante The Magician's device that he used to
create the illusion that women were being sawed in half.
Copperfield's massive collection also includes ventriloquist Edgar Bergen's Charlie McCarthy
puppet, which starred in "The Chase and Sanborn Hour" variety program from the 1930s to the
1950s, two of the original Howdy Doody marionettes, and four of Paul Winchell's puppets — including
Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smiff.
So what does the world's wealthiest magician do with all that money?
Well, in 2006, David Copperfield purchased his own private island — Musha Cay island
in the southern Bahamas — for $50 million.
As reported by Luxatic, Copperfield spent an additional $40 million to renovate the
island's existing structures, build several homes, and add additional recreational facilities.
Once the initial renovation was complete, Copperfield purchased 10 other islands surrounding
Musha Cay, further ensuring the privacy of his beloved Caribbean retreat.
According to Venue Report, Copperfield Bay owns several resorts that can be rented by
the public — well, those members of the public who are very wealthy — for weddings,
corporate events, wellness retreats, and other celebrations.
In addition to accommodations and catering services, the island has tropical paths for
jogging, hiking, and walking, a freeform swimming pool, and more decadent perks.
However, one thing remains off-limits to David Copperfield's guests: The Fountain of Youth.
Copperfield discussed his discovery of the mythical spring during a 2006 interview with
Reuters.
During the phone interview, Copperfield said,
"I've discovered a true phenomenon.
You can take dead leaves, they come in contact with the water, they become full of life again.
[...] Bugs or insects that are near death, come in contact with the water, they'll fly
away.
It's an amazing thing, very, very exciting."
During the interview, Copperfield said he hired biologists and geologists to study the
properties of the spring.
However, he never revealed their findings.
In 2013, Gavin Cox, a British citizen, traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada, to celebrate his birthday.
During the trip, Gavin attended David Copperfield's show at the MGM Grand, where he was randomly
selected to participate in one of the illusions — specifically, the disappearance and reappearance
of 13 audience members.
As reported by the Independent, the audience participants did not actually vanish, of course.
Instead, they were led backstage, through a series of secret passageways to another
location, where they were expected to remain until they would later reappear during the
show's finale.
Gavin Cox's attorneys said the audience participants were forced to run through the dark passages,
which were littered with, quote, "construction dust."
Gavin said the dangerous conditions contributed to a fall, which left him with both a traumatic
brain injury and more than $400,000 in medical bills.
NPR reports Gavin Cox said that he was having a good time until he fell.
Although he remembers that he fell hard on his side, he claims he doesn't remember getting
up off the floor or completing the illusion.
As reported by Las Vegas Review-Journal, three other women, who participated in the vanish
audience member illusion, testified that they also suffered injuries in the dark passageways.
A jury ultimately determined David Copperfield was not liable for Gavin Cox's injuries.
However, the magician was dismayed that so many details about the "Lucky #13" illusion
were revealed during the trial.
Even the most casual viewer of David Copperfield can see — legal issues notwithstanding — that
above all else, he's a performer and entertainer.
He and his jazz-handed stage poses go well above and beyond in the "pageantry and spectacle"
category, which is doubtlessly a big reason why he stands out from his magical peers.
And if you ever wondered where he gets his sense of showmanship, you have only to look
at classic Hollywood cinema.
"Don't stop the camera."
As Copperfield said in an interview with Forbes, his greatest career influences weren't death-defying
stunt magicians like Houdini, but old-timey dancers, actors, singers, and directors.
Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Orson Welles, even Alfred Hitchcock—these are
just some of the figures from whom Copperfield drew inspiration.
As he said,
"I was inspired to bring storytelling to magic, romance, choreography — all the elements
of film and theater that I loved."
Copperfield's focus on storytelling is pretty clear.
Take his "Great Wall of China" illusion.
There's a beginning and set-up, then a complication in which the audience waits in anticipation,
and an end where tension gets resolved and David appears on the other side of the wall.
Such narrative structuring creates far greater performances than standalone stage tricks,
such as tugging rabbits out of hats.
Copperfield has done more than a couple of on-camera tutorials.
One time, for instance, he showed an interviewer for the Wall Street Journal how to do an impossibly
balanced dollar bill trick.
The trick, as he showed, involved secretly inserting a palmed quarter inside a folded
bill to keep the bill balanced.
He also did a career retrospective with GQ where he didn't necessarily divulge the secrets
of every single illusion, but he discusses his tactics behind each illusion's construction,
including the business side of things.
For his Great Wall of China illusion, for example, he discusses how he had to collaborate
with the Chinese government and television networks.
One of Copperfield's tricks, dubbed "Grandpa's Aces," has been scrutinized, analyzed, and
replicated by amateur magicians quite a lot.
When Copperfield performed the illusion, he described how it was taught to him by his
grandfather before he became famous.
The illusion is a multi-step trick that uses a seemingly normal deck of cards.
Copperfield somehow flips the aces out of the deck, makes them vanish, and reappear
in a specific and seemingly impossible sequence.
Copperfield may have receded somewhat from the magic-dusted limelight of late, but that
doesn't mean he's vanished along with the Statue of Liberty.
Those looking to behold the maestro of magic can just buy a ticket to see him at the MGM
Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, provided you feel like dropping between $70 to $220 per person
for two hours of grand illusion.
Via the MGM Grand Website, simply stroll the casino floor and you'll find Copperfield in
his eponymous David Copperfield Theater, set aside just for him, apparently, after some
left turns and a bit more walking.
Copperfield puts on a shocking number of shows at the MGM Grand.
He performs every single day, seven days a week, with the occasional cluster of days
off between months, as seen on the MGM Grand Booking Site.
Bear in mind that Copperfield is currently 65 years old.
We suppose his $17.5 million, 31,000-square-foot Las Vegas home isn't going to pay for itself.
His house, it should be noted, contains a wine cellar, a full-service spa, and a nightclub
with a bar and dance floor, among other amenities.
Despite his rigorous performance schedule, David Copperfield has somehow managed to make
time for a personal life.
And he enjoyed a high-profile relationship that made him often pop up in the tabloids
during the 1990s.
Copperfield was involved with German model Claudia Schiffer at the height of her supermodel-era
fame.
The couple reportedly dated for six years and were often photographed together on the
red carpet.
Despite the public's fascination with the pair, it would seem that romance is no longer
at the forefront of Copperfield's mind.
Referring to the relationship with Schiffer, Copperfield told E! News,
"Oh, that was a long time ago.
Now I'm engaged and in a committed relationship with Chloe in my mind and my heart."
The Chloe he's referring to is French former model Chloe Gosselin, with whom he shares
a daughter named Sky.
Copperfield also has two older children from previous relationships.
The couple became engaged in 2014 and Gosselin is now a shoe designer, per Marie Claire.
In 2007, Lacey L. Carroll accused David Copperfield of sexually assaulting her while she was a
guest on his private island.
As reported by ABC News, Carroll said Copperfield met her at one of his shows and asked her
to later join him at his private island getaway.
ABC News reports Carroll's accusation was called into question when she accused another
man of sexually assaulting her in 2009, and surveillance
footage recovered during the investigation of that case revealed that she allegedly lied
about the details of her interactions with the man.
"To be falsely accused of something that horrendous is devastating to yourself, your friends,
your family, really bad."
Then, in 2018, Brittney Lewis said David Copperfield sexually assaulted her in 1988 when she was
17 years old.
As reported by TheWrap, Lewis said the alleged assault happened after one of Copperfield's
shows.
In her interview with TheWrap, Lewis said she saw Copperfield pour something into her
drink while they were at a bar.
Although she questioned him about it, she reportedly blacked out after a few sips.
Lewis told TheWrap,
“I remember my clothes being taken off.
He was kissing my face and then I remember him starting to go down on my body with his
face."
However, she reported that she then "completely blacked out" in the midst of the alleged assault.
The following morning, Lewis asked Copperfield what happened and he reportedly told her that
nothing happened because she was underage.
He then reportedly made her sign a statement saying she was "okay" before she left to return
home.
David Copperfield was never charged or convicted in either case and has vehemently denied the
allegations.
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available.
Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline
at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).