From a working class kid who never finished college to a hugely popular TV personality,
Fox News' Sean Hannity truly has a rags to riches story.
So how did he go from running a wallpaper business to starring in his own primetime
cable news show?
And just how much is Hannity worth?
The answer may surprise you.
Sean Hannity was born in the very liberal New York City in 1961 to his parents, Hugh
Hannity and Lillian Flynn.
He was the youngest of four, and his parents navigated life — and his upbringing — as
first generation Irish Americans.
The Hannitys had a very normal, "modest" house located in Franklin Square, and by all accounts,
were an ordinary family.
Sean didn't come from a wealthy upbringing, or from a family with immense influence.
Instead, he spent his youth "bored to tears" in school and often skipped class to bum a
cigarette off a friend instead, as he told The New York Times.
By the time he was 11 years old, he'd started taking shooting lessons, and he attributes
the experience to fostering his "love of guns," according to the publication.
As Sean Hannity himself has said, he is not a journalist.
The Fox News host attended both New York University and Adelphi University, but by the 1980s,
he had abandoned his academic pursuits and dropped out after just two years.
With no degree and not a ton of professional experience, Hannity and his sister, Teddy
Grisham, put their heads together and left New York, venturing to Rhode Island to pursue
new careers.
While it may come as a surprise, the host and his sister started a wallpaper and design
business while in Rhode Island, and were able to pay the bills with this unique line of
work.
"Then I was a painting contractor.
I hung wallpaper.
I framed houses.
Fell off a roof three stories."
In his interview with The Times, Hannity admitted that while he was waiting for a new job, he
would turn to novels and written material by the likes of Taylor Caldwell, a member
of the controversial John Birch Society.
The author, Hannity admitted, is still a cherished writer.
From New York to Rhode Island to California, Sean Hannity spent his early career years
trying to find his footing.
While he continued working in the home decor space, Hannity sought after bigger and better
things, eventually landing a job at the KCSB radio station in Santa Barbara, California.
The catch?
It was unpaid.
In his application to the station, the young Hannity detailed his professional aspirations,
telling his future employer that he was a, quote, "serious intellectual," despite not
having finished his undergraduate degree.
As detailed by The Washington Post, Hannity then wrote:
"It's my hope to make radio a career at some point.
[I have] developed a lot of discipline and good-working habits."
He must've said something right because the 27-year-old got the gig and took to the air
on Tuesday mornings at 9 a.m.
It was at the station in the solidly liberal town that Hannity started to garner attention,
but it wasn't for the most heartwarming of reasons.
So at this point in his career, Sean Hannity worked in the home improvement arena and had
an unpaid position at a Santa Barbara radio station — not exactly bringing home the
bacon, but things were looking up, right?
Not exactly.
As noted by The Washington Post, Hannity started to make some seriously offensive comments
while on the air and was soon under pressure from the station.
On the air he claimed,
"Contrary to what we hear in the general media, you can get AIDS from saliva, from tears…
They won't let you say it's a gay disease."
He also engaged in a back-and-forth with a guest who made derogatory and false claims
about how AIDS is spread.
During an appearance on the "Shoot This Now" podcast, Hannity reflected on those early
days hitting the airwaves, saying,
"Almost 30 years ago when I was starting out in radio in my 20s, I interviewed a controversial
guest who made several incendiary comments.
I was young and stupid with no clue how to do a show.
I freely admit the comments in my 20s were ignorant and embarrassing."
The young radio host lost his job at the station as a result of his on-air behavior and went
to the ACLU to help him in the case.
Ultimately, he was offered his job back but he turned it down.
While Sean Hannity worked an unpaid radio gig in California, he certainly caught people's
attention.
As a result, his name spread a bit like a brush fire and made it all the way to Alabama,
where radio guru Bill Dunnavent was searching for on-air talent.
It was the 1990s, the Fairness Doctrine, which established balanced political perspectives
on radio and television news, had been killed, and Dunnavent was wading into a news swamp.
According to The Washington Post, Dunnavent wanted "highly opinionated political talk
radio."
More than 50 people applied for the position at Alabama's WVNN, and one stood out among
the others: Hannity.
Dunnavent later admitted to The Washington Post,
"I hired Sean because he had enough guts to stand up for his convictions and because he
sounded different from everybody else in our area."
The young pundit's new boss paid Hannity $19,000 a year.
Not great, but still better than being unpaid.
It probably doesn't come as a shock to learn that Sean Hannity made a name for himself
as a controversial commenter on the airwaves, and as cable news began to pick up speed,
his agent — David Limbaugh — knew exactly where to turn.
If the name Limbaugh rings a bell, it's because David's brother, Rush Limbaugh, was working
with Roger Ailes on the newly minted Fox News.
With the backing of Rupert Murdoch, the network was kicking off with a bang and was looking
for fresh talent — Hannity, of course, came knocking.
After being encouraged to apply to the new network by his agent, Hannity found himself
back in New York, sitting in Ailes' office.
Hannity recalled to The Times:
"Roger goes, 'Great, you're going to do a debate show.'
And that's all it took."
"He had no reason to hire me, I was awful on television."
While it's unknown how much money Hannity was offered in those early days, he was given
the 9 p.m. on-air vacancy, with the intention that he and an unchosen co-host would debate
the news of the day.
"It changed my life, in every way imaginable."
Just because Sean Hannity made the transition to television doesn't mean that he gave up
his radio roots.
After joining Fox News in the 1990s, Hannity continued to take to the airwaves, and "The
Sean Hannity Show" was born on September 10, 2001.
Since then, the show has become accessible via more than 500 countrywide radio stations,
with the host seriously profiting from it, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
In 2004, Hannity scored a $25 million deal that carried the show for an additional five
years, syndicated by ABC Radio.
By 2008, the host signed for an additional $100 million and another five years on the
air.
From making $19,000 a year to be on the air to signing a $100 million deal to stay on
the radio waves, Sean Hannity clearly elevated his star status in a big way.
But he didn't just stay confined to radio or television.
By 2010, he had penned three best-sellers.
And in 2019, CNN reported that the host had collected an advance from popular publishing
company, Simon & Schuster, for upwards of $10 million.
Hannity denied any news about a book in the works at the time, with a Fox News spokesperson
commenting,
"For years, there has been widespread publisher interest in Sean Hannity writing another book,
but only he knows what his plans are at this time.
Hannity has NOT inked any book deal."
Flash forward to August 2020, and Hannity's book titled Live Free Or Die: America (and
the World) on the Brink, was released.
But here's the question: Was Simon and & Schuster behind the publication?
As it turns out, the answer is a resounding yes.
The publishing company's imprint, Threshold Editions, published Hannity's 2020 release,
calling his previous claim about not pursuing a book deal into question.
In 2003, Hannity and his then-wife, Jill Rhodes, purchased a home in Suffolk County, New York,
as noted by real estate site Dirt.
The term "home" is used lightly here, as it's really a small mansion.
Dirt noted that the property in question boasted 4,824 square feet, adorned with four bedrooms,
five and a half bathrooms, a three-car garage, six fireplaces, and marble flooring just about
everywhere.
The house is tucked away among mature trees.
Suffice to say, the property was exceptional, but all good things come to an end eventually.
By 2014, the home was on the market, listed for $3.6 million.
Admittedly, Hannity and Rhodes had been spending much more time in their Centre Island home,
described by Dirt as "a larger and much more expensive mansion."
Where does the famous Fox News host vacation?
Honestly, could it be anywhere other than Florida?
The Tampa Bay Times noted that Hannity was just one of a number of prominent Republicans
to buy property in the Sunshine State, dropping some serious cash on a penthouse in Naples,
Florida.
Hannity has also invested millions into real estate properties, apartment complexes, and
homes across the country.
By 2018, Hannity had a real estate portfolio worth about $90 million, as noted by Celebrity
Net Worth.
Not only did he buy a huge amount of property in 2013, Hannity pursued low-income purchase
opportunities and upper-class sales, rounding out his portfolio with almost 900 properties
spanning seven states.
If those weren't enough, the host also owns two apartment buildings in Georgia, where
the going rent ranges from $700 to $1,000 a month.
Sean Hannity makes his money — and name — by sharing his unfiltered thoughts on
television and over the radio waves, but the news personality is surprisingly private when
it comes to his personal life.
In a shocking turn of events, Hannity and his wife, Jill Rhodes, announced in 2020 that
they were getting divorced after more than two decades of marriage, divulging that they
had been separated for years at that point.
The couple revealed in a joint statement provided to Page Six:
"Sean and Jill are committed to working together for the best interests of their children.
Amicable agreements were entered into over four years ago between Sean and Jill."
While their statement didn't divulge a reason for their separation, a friend reportedly
commented that Hannity's commitment to Fox News and his "workaholic" tendencies were
partially to blame.
So what did the divorce do to Hannity's overall net worth?
Honestly, not much.
TV Star Bio noted that Rhodes, a journalist, has a net worth of $5 million on her own.
Cheat Sheet further detailed that given the couple's children were over the age of 18
when they divorced, no child support was to be expected.
Throughout the course of his life, Sean Hannity transformed from a kid born into a modest
family to an unpaid radio host, to a multi-millionaire collecting $45 million a year.
To say that his financial growth is impressive is an understatement, but not everyone feels
as though the host's finances are secure.
Chip Franklin, a fellow radio host, crossed paths with Hannity in New York, as they were
both conservative-pushing pundits.
As he told The Washington Post, Franklin is now a liberal supporter and has moved the
political ideology of his show accordingly, but the same honesty — in his opinion — can't
be said about Hannity.
In speaking to The Post, Franklin had this to say about Hannity's most well-known on-air
fibs:
"I know Hannity knew that Obama was born in the United States.
I know Hannity has the same facts we all do about the crowd size at the inauguration or
the Russian connection.
I know that because I knew him in New York and he was always a conservative, but not
like this."
"You think we're bad for America?
You think I'm bad for America?"
"Yeah.
Yeah."
"You do?"
In Franklin's perspective, Hannity "got in this boat" of conservative media and failed
to realize how powerful "the current was."
He continued, saying,
"People adore him now.
Nobody around him wants him to change.
So he doubles down.
He can't go against his audience because he'll lose millions of dollars."
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