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Whether you watch his show or not, we’re pretty sure you’ve heard of Dr. Phil.
Maybe you remember him from back in the Oprah days, or maybe you caught wind of one of several controversies he’s been embroiled in.
Either way, you might be pretty surprised to find out how lucrative being a TV therapist can be.
It’s true that Dr. Phil has achieved incredible success, thanks in no small part to Oprah, but life wasn’t always so easy for him.
Today we’re going to tell you the story of how Dr. Phil went from living in his car to being worth 400 million dollars, but first a little background.
Dr. Phil McGraw is a psychologist, author, and television personality who became internationally known when he began appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1998.
For the majority of his 20-year television career, he has been the host of a daytime talk show that bears his name.
The topics on his show vary wildly, but he is a consistent presence with his straight talk, unique metaphors, tough love, and folksy advice.
His wife, Robin, is also regularly seen in the audience.
They’ve been married over 40 years and have two children, Jay and Jordan.
He’s also written at least 13 books focused on different topics like weight loss, family life, and relationships.
He no longer has a license to practice psychology as he voluntarily gave it up in 2006 after there were a few ethical concerns,
including him hiring a patient and him having what was called an inappropriate non-physical relationship with a patient.
Phil didn’t make his debut on The Oprah Winfrey Show until he was 48 years old, so what was he up to before that?
For that story, we have to go back to the start.
When Phil was about 11 years old, his father Joseph uprooted the family and moved from Texas to Kansas so that he could complete an internship as a psychologist.
This was his father’s lifelong dream, but it didn’t come without a price.
The internship was unpaid, and with little to no money coming in, Phil and his father ended up living in their car in Kansas City when Phil was 12.
This went on for several months until they were finally able to secure a room at the local YMCA for $5 per week.
Then they eventually got together enough money to get a one-room apartment with no heat, air conditioning, running water, or electricity.
Phil was able to escape these financial struggles by getting a football scholarship to the University of Tulsa.
He later transferred to Midwestern State University in Texas, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology, following in the footsteps of his father.
By 1979, when he was 29, he had earned his PhD in clinical psychology.
He then went to work for his father, who had set up a private practice in Wichita Falls, Texas, but they were both about to embark on a different path.
In 1983, Phil and his father began a partnership with Texas businesswoman Thelma Box, and together they presented self-help seminars called “Pathways.”
This partnership was very successful, but eight years later, Phil sold his shares in the business for $325,000 without warning
and left his father and Thelma behind to start his own business at the age of 41.
He partnered up with Gary Dobbs to found Courtroom Sciences, Inc.
This was a trial consulting firm that primarily assisted Fortune 500 companies in negotiating settlements.
In fact, the TV show Bull, which came out in 2016, is based on his experiences as a trial consultant.
It was a gamble for him to leave his successful work with his father behind,
but just five years after starting this new business, McGraw was hired by one client who would completely change the trajectory of his life.
In 1995, Oprah was being sued by the Texas Beef Group for making disparaging remarks about beef being connected to mad cow disease.
The day after the episode aired, beef prices fell from 62 cents to 55 cents per pound and the cattle futures dropped by 10%.
She was being sued for more than $12 million. Oprah hired McGraw as a consultant for her trial.
She became very impressed by him and loved his straightforward advice.
She felt that others would be able to benefit from his brand of wisdom as well, so she decided to give him a platform.
After she won her trial, she invited him to be a guest on her show.
And you already know when you have Oprah in your corner there’s almost no limit to what can happen.
Her audience quickly embraced him, and he began appearing weekly on her show as Dr. Phil.
He continued to do this until his own talk show called Dr. Phil was created with Oprah’s help in 2002.
Of course you can learn about Oprah’s rise to the top by checking out our video of Oprah Winfrey: A True Rags to Riches Story by clicking in the upper right-hand corner.
But we’re focused on Phil right now. Let’s see how this new venture affected his life and, more specifically, his net worth.
As of 2019, Dr. Phil has aired for 17 seasons and has been nominated for over 25 Emmys. The show has been extremely lucrative for Dr. Phil.
Thanks to syndication, he now makes about $80 million per year for the show.
He also makes additional revenue by acting as executive producer for Bull and The Doctors.
He is also the creator of the Doctors on Demand app, which is valued around $300 million.
In 2017 he edged out Ellen DeGeneres as the highest-paid TV host by about three million dollars.
No other TV host is making nearly as much as those 2. And his earning are set to increase even higher in 2019.
By July, he had already out-earned his previous year’s earnings with an incredible $95 million in income.
In 2018, Dr. Phil was renewed for four more seasons, so it will run at least until May 2023, at which time Dr. Phil will be 73 years old.
It truly doesn’t matter where you start but where you finish.
Being homeless is part of Phil McGraw’s past, and he still draws from that experience to give advice to others on his show and maintain a certain perspective on life.
However, he doesn’t let that past define him. He created his own path forward, and luckily for him, that path intersected with Oprah.
Sometimes you just have to do the best you can where you are and always be ready to embrace opportunities as they arise.
Phil never dreamed that his most successful work would be on TV, but he seized the chance when it was offered, which has made all the difference.
Dr. Phil is a 6-time New York Times best-selling author.
If you want to check out his best-selling book, you’ll want to look for Life Code: The New Rules for Winning in the Real World.
In his typical straightforward fashion, Dr. Phil gives his “Sweet 16” tactics for winning in the real world
as well as guidance on how to identify and avoid the type of people who can push you off track.
This book sells for $20, but save your money.
Just go to alux.com/freebook and sign up so that you can get the audiobook version for free thanks to our partnership with Audible!
While researching his story, we’ve come across this thought-provoking quote from Dr. Phil we’d like to share with you that goes like this:
It’s so easy to fall into a routine and then get stuck in a rut where you don’t want to be.
Take a step back and figure out whether you are being intentional about the path you are taking or just going through the motions in your everyday life.
Now that we’re wrapping up this story, we’d like to know:
Let us know what you think in the comments. And for sticking with us until the end, here's your...
In 2003 Dr. Phil launched his own weight loss line, selling shakes, supplements, and energy bars.
This brought criticism as people did not believe he had the expertise to get involved in the weight loss sector.
When the Federal Trade Commission made it clear they intended to investigate his claims about his products, he pulled them off the market in March 2004.
In October 2005, he faced a class-action lawsuit from those who had purchased his $120-per-month supplements.
He ended up settling that lawsuit for $10.5 million.
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