Childhood wasn't exactly a barrel of laughs for the man who became Jon Stewart's successor
on The Daily Show.
Born into apartheid and enduring shocking violence, Trevor Noah somehow turned his pain
into a lucrative comedy career.
This is his tragic real-life story.
Born to a black Xhosa mother named Patricia from South Africa and a white father named
Robert, Trevor Noah broke the law the moment he was born.
Under South Africa's Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act instated in 1949, any sexual
relations or marriages between interracial couples were illegal.
Hence, Noah's birth was an act of defiance and rebellion that could've easily resulted
in fines, an arrest, or even jail time.
Noah wrote about the realities of growing up under apartheid in his 2016 memoir, aptly
titled Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood.
He noted that his mother often kept him indoors, away from the law's eyes, for fear of him
being taken away.
"If I was seen in Soweto which was the area I lived in, the police would see me and go
oh that kid, he’s a crime you can see that.
And they would take me away and send me off to an orphanage."
While growing up in South Africa, murder was a daily reality for Noah.
Even something as simple as commuting could turn into a life-threatening ordeal.
He recalled one such instance in his memoir, revealing what happened when he, his mother,
and his little brother decided to hitchhike when they couldn't find one of the minibuses
reserved for people of color.
They hadn't gone ten feet when a minibus suddenly swerved in front of the car and cut them off.
Then the bus driver and his crony got out and pulled Noah's driver out of the car.
It looked like they were going to kill him over stealing their customers.
Noah's mother diffused the situation and the family got into the minibus, but the driver
started calling her names, yelling,
"That's the problem with you Xhosa women.
You're all s and tonight you're going to learn your lesson."
The bus began speeding and that's when Noah's mom knew they had to act fast.
They jumped out of the moving vehicle and ran for their lives.
Noah endured a brush with the law when he was arrested as a teen and ended up spending
an entire week behind bars under the suspicion of having stolen a car.
As he revealed in his memoir, he took a junk car from his stepfather's mechanic workshop
and hit the road, but he was soon pulled over.
As he noted,
"Cops in South Africa don't give you a reason when they pull you over.
Cops pull you over because they're cops and they have the power to pull you over; it's
as simple as that."
When police went to check the car's registration, they found that it didn't match up with the
car's license plates, so they arrested Noah, thinking he was driving a stolen vehicle.
"No!
I don't want to die!
Please, I'm not falling for that trick!
Please, officer, I'm sorry!"
He was jailed for a week and eventually released on bail.
Upon his return home, he pretended like nothing had happened, and told his mother that he
had simply been staying with a friend.
Little did he know, she was the one who had hired a lawyer and posted his bail.
When Noah's mother married a mechanic named Abel, she couldn't have imagined the hell
he would put her through.
Noah's stepfather was reportedly emotionally and physically abusive.
He even allegedly beat his wife with old bicycle frames.
As reported by The Daily Mail, the couple got divorced in 1996, but they continued living
together until 2003 when Patricia took their 15-month-old son, Isaac, and moved into a
shack in the backyard to escape the abuse.
Noah was no longer coming home because he couldn't stand watching his mother suffer.
In 2009, Patricia finally moved out after becoming engaged to a new man, which sent
Abel into a jealous rage.
He claimed that he had learned about the divorce just that year and tried to reverse it.
He then hunted down his ex-wife and tried to kill her.
He shot her in the face and back, with one bullet narrowly missing her spine.
Her jaw was shattered, with the bullets also going through her skull, nose, and ear.
"Her recovery was only a week.
A week.
Which was fantastic, because that means the bill was only 24,000 grand."
Noah was also in danger.
His grandmother told The Daily Mail that after Abel left Patricia for dead, he took his gun
and went looking for Trevor.
He eventually pleaded guilty to an attempted murder charge and was sentenced to three years
of correctional supervision.
Following a rough start in life, Noah's path has taken a turn in the opposite direction,
and he's since become one of the busiest people in comedy.
In 2015, he replaced Jon Stewart as host of The Daily Show, despite being relatively unknown
in the U.S., and he did well enough that Comedy Central put him under contract until 2022.
He's also been thriving outside of television.
His 2016 memoir has sold over 1 million copies, and then he started working on another book,
as well as a podcast, a stand-up tour, and Netflix specials, all of which together have
been earning him eight figures a year.
Noah never lost any of his childhood drive and ambition, and he did it all on his own
terms.
"I wanted to make people laugh, so if I was doing that, why would I give that up to do
something else?"
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more Nicki Swift videos about your favorite stars are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.