\u2018Empty\u2019: Attenborough\u2019s lonely life at 100<\/a><\/p>\n \u2018Really sick\u2019 80s star looks incredible at 64<\/a><\/p>\n At just 24, Ricki Lake became the youngest person to front a syndicated US talk show.<\/p>\n The actress decided on the spot to up-end her life and relocate to the West Coast.<\/p>\n The Hairspray star funnelled her television earnings straight into California dirt. <\/p>\n Her premier acquisition was a classic 1930s Spanish-style estate in Brentwood, Los Angeles, bought from actor Peter Weller.<\/p>\n She later offloaded the home to Friends star Courteney Cox for close to $US8.5m ($12.8m).<\/p>\n Today, the former talk show host lives in a renovated mid-century bungalow in Malibu.<\/p>\n Lake\u2019s life away from television was hit by profound heartbreak. In 2017, her ex-husband Christian Evans died by suicide after a long battle with bipolar disorder.<\/p>\n She has since reinvented herself as a health campaigner, podcast host and documentary filmmaker.<\/p>\n Lake has since reinvented herself as a health campaigner, podcast host and documentary filmmaker. Picture: Michael Loccisano\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Jerry Springer<\/p>\n Estimated net worth at death: $US60m ($90m)<\/p>\n Before his death in 2023, Jerry Springer presided over nearly 4000 episodes of flying chairs, paternity brawls and tabloid bedlam.<\/p>\n Behind the scenes, Springer took an entirely detached, self-deprecating view of his television legacy.<\/p>\n The former Cincinnati mayor had resigned from politics in 1974 after paying a sex worker with a personal cheque, before staging a remarkable comeback.<\/p>\n Asked shortly before his death whether he considered himself the granddad of reality television, Springer offered a characteristically dry response.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, I just apologise. I\u2019m so sorry. What have I done? I\u2019ve ruined the culture,\u201d Springer joked. <\/p>\n \u201cI just hope hell isn\u2019t that hot because I burn real easy. I\u2019m very light-complected, and that kind of worries me \u2026 I\u2019m just a schlub who got lucky.\u201d<\/p>\n Before his death in 2023, Jerry Springer presided over nearly 4000 episodes of flying chairs, paternity brawls and tabloid bedlam. Picture: Ralf-Finn Hestoft\/Corbis via Getty Images<\/p>\n Springer kept his private life strictly insulated from the circus of his set. <\/p>\n Rather than buying sprawling trophy ranches, he channelled his television wealth into quiet, secure sanctuaries.<\/p>\n His primary home was a four-bedroom waterfront condominium in the gated Bird Key enclave of Sarasota, Florida. He also retained property holdings in Ohio.<\/p>\n Springer secretly fought pancreatic cancer before dying at his Florida residence in April 2023, aged 79. <\/p>\n His entire estate was left to his family, with his daughter Katie named as sole heir. <\/p>\n The reality firmly debunked viral online rumours claiming he had left a secret will and fathered unknown children.<\/p>\n Springer kept his private life strictly insulated from the circus of his set. Picture: John Parra\/Getty Images for Parrot Analytics<\/p>\n Oprah Winfrey<\/p>\n Estimated net worth: $US3bn ($4.5bn)<\/p>\n Oprah Winfrey is not merely a broadcasting legend, she is one of the most formidable private landowners in the US.<\/p>\n When she ended The Oprah Winfrey Show after 25 seasons in 2011, she walked away from unmatched commercial paydays to launch her own cable network, OWN. <\/p>\n She poured her fortune directly into prime dirt. Her crown jewel is \u201cThe Promised Land\u201d, a sprawling 26ha estate in Montecito, California, valued at more than $US100m ($140m). <\/p>\n Over two decades, Winfrey systematically bought out neighbouring properties to build a fortified, paparazzi-proof compound.<\/p>\n Beyond California, she amassed more than 800ha across the Hawaiian island of Maui. <\/p>\n Her portfolio also includes a Colorado ski chalet in Telluride, fitted with an underground $US70,000 ($A105,000) wine cellar designed like a mining tunnel.<\/p>\n Tom Cruise jumps for joy on the couch during a TV interview with talk show host Oprah Winfrey.<\/p>\n Winfrey\u2019s empire has not been immune to fierce public storms. <\/p>\n In the late 1990s, Texas cattle ranchers hit her with an unsuccessful $US12m defamation lawsuit over a mad cow disease broadcast. <\/p>\n In 2023, she faced public anger alongside Dwayne \u201cThe Rock\u201d Johnson when the pair appealed to everyday citizens for donations to their Maui wildfire relief fund.<\/p>\n Her private life has also carried profound heartbreak. <\/p>\n Winfrey candidly addressed the sexual abuse she suffered as a child, which led to a pregnancy at age 14.<\/p>\n Her baby son, whom she named Canaan because it signified \u201cnew land, new life\u201d, died in hospital weeks after birth. <\/p>\n When a relative leaked the loss in 1990, Winfrey feared the revelation would ruin her career. <\/p>\n \u201cI took to my bed and cried for three days. I felt devastated. Wounded. Betrayed,\u201d she later wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cI imagined that every person on the street was going to point their finger at me and scream, \u2018Pregnant at 14, you wicked girl \u2026 expelled!\u2019 <\/p>\n \u201cAnd I soon realised that having the secret out was liberating. What I learned for sure was that holding the shame was the greatest burden of all.\u201d<\/p>\n Winfrey continues to produce major film projects, oversee her global book club and host international interview specials from her California compound.<\/p>\n Winfrey ended her talk show after 25 seasons in 2011. Picture: Phillip Faraone\/Getty Images for Lucas Museum of Narrative Art<\/p>\n Maury Povich<\/p>\n Estimated net worth: $US80m ($120m)<\/p>\n While his daytime competitors slowly signed off, Maury Povich outlasted them all. <\/p>\n By the time he retired his namesake show in 2022 after 31 years and 3600 episodes, he had seen 75 rival daytime programs hit the TV scrap heap. <\/p>\n Povich made his name with dramatic on-air paternity reveals. Alongside his wife, news anchor Connie Chung, he turned that TV longevity into a luxury property portfolio. <\/p>\n The couple\u2019s primary residence is a $US9m ($A13.5m) stone mansion in Washington\u2019s elite Kalorama neighbourhood, where former presidents and technology billionaires own property. <\/p>\n They also hold an apartment on Manhattan\u2019s Park Avenue and a summer ranch retreat along Montana\u2019s Flathead Lake.<\/p>\n After stepping away from daily television, Povich turned his famous catchphrase into a home DNA test kit business called The Results Are In. <\/p>\n He also spends his retirement breeding thoroughbred racehorses. <\/p>\n While his daytime competitors slowly signed off, Maury Povich outlasted them all.<\/p>\n After stepping away from daily television, Povich turned his famous catchphrase into a home DNA test kit business called The Results Are In. Picture: YouTube \/ Today<\/p>\n Phil Donahue<\/p>\n Estimated net worth at death: $US150m ($225m)<\/p>\n Regarded as the founding father of modern daytime talk, Phil Donahue spent 29 years and more than 6000 hours pioneering audience-participation television. <\/p>\n He bowed out in 1996 as the genre shifted violently toward tabloid shock tactics.<\/p>\n Donahue and his wife of 44 years, actress Marlo Thomas, assembled an enviable luxury property portfolio. <\/p>\n Their premier estate was a 3.1ha waterfront compound in Westport, Connecticut. <\/p>\n Set on a private Long Island Sound shoreline, the Tudor-style estate sold for a record $US20m ($A30m) in 2013.<\/p>\n The couple then relocated to an Upper East Side apartment overlooking Central Park.<\/p>\n Donahue suffered acute career fallout in 2003 when MSNBC abruptly cancelled his prime-time program over his outspoken opposition to the Iraq War. <\/p>\n He spent his later decades directing acclaimed anti-war documentaries before his death at his Manhattan apartment in August 2024, aged 88.<\/p>\n Regarded as the founding father of modern daytime talk, Phil Donahue spent 29 years and more than 6000 hours pioneering audience-participation television.<\/p>\n Donahue and wife Marlo Thomas. Picture: Paul Hawthorne\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Sally Jessy Raphael<\/p>\n Estimated net worth: $US40m ($60m)<\/p>\n Instantly recognisable by her trademark red glasses, Sally Jessy Raphael was an afternoon television fixture for nearly two decades. <\/p>\n Her run came to a sudden halt in 2002 when the network abruptly axed her show amid shifting commercial pressures.<\/p>\n Raphael revealed she was discovered by Phil Donahue after he heard her on radio while driving through New Mexico. <\/p>\n \u201cHe said, \u2018We ought to have a woman who does what I do. And this woman can do it,\u2019 so he told the company. <\/p>\n \u201cSo they hired me, and that was very nice. They didn\u2019t pay me much \u2026 but then it grew and I think it grew because it was a darn good show.\u201d<\/p>\n As corporate ownership changed, Raphael said pressure to chase trash-TV ratings became unbearable.<\/p>\n \u201cThe show deteriorated and there was a point at which I couldn\u2019t stand it anymore,\u201d she told People<\/a> in 2025. <\/p>\n \u201cI kept hoping for something that wasn\u2019t like that, but we were up against Jerry and Maury, and they were really succeeding.\u201d<\/p>\n Sally Jessy Raphael was an afternoon television fixture for nearly two decades. Picture: Getty Images<\/p>\n Despite solid viewership, the network pulled the plug without warning.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we went off the air, they fired me. I never left the show where there was money. They fired me at a 4.8,\u201d Raphael said. <\/p>\n \u201cAnybody today in the morning slots, 10 and 11, would give their right eye for a 4.8. But they said, \u2018Oh, it\u2019s going down. <\/p>\n \u201cIt went from a 4.9 to a 4.8\u2019 \u2026 and so they fired me. I wouldn\u2019t have left the job no matter how lousy it was.\u201d<\/p>\n Raphael invested heavily in historic US architecture. Her trophy asset is Elmwood, an Elizabethan-style manor set across 10ha in Pawling, New York. <\/p>\n The 150-year-old estate features 43 rooms, horse stables and manicured gardens. She also held a restored 19th-century townhouse on Manhattan\u2019s Upper East Side.<\/p>\n Behind her broadcast career lay profound heartbreak. Her 19-year-old daughter, Allison, died from an accidental prescription overdose in 1992, weeks after her son was badly injured in a car crash. <\/p>\n Raphael has spent her retirement focused on art restoration and antiques across her rural New York property.<\/p>\n Raphael\u2019s run came to a sudden halt in 2002 when the network abruptly axed her show amid shifting commercial pressures. Picture: Instagram\/thesallyjessy<\/p>\n Before reinventing himself on cable news, Geraldo Rivera was the shock jock of daytime television. Picture: Supplied<\/p>\n Rivera now works as a political analyst and frequent news commentator. Picture: YouTube\/The View<\/p>\n Geraldo Rivera<\/p>\n Estimated net worth: $US20m ($A30m)<\/p>\n Before reinventing himself on cable news, Geraldo Rivera was the shock jock of daytime television. <\/p>\n His daytime run included an on-air chair brawl that broke his nose in 1988, alongside the infamously hollow live opening of Al Capone\u2019s vault in 1986.<\/p>\n Rivera\u2019s tabloid career bankrolled a prime waterfront portfolio. <\/p>\n His premier holding was a 5600sq m compound in Edgewater, New Jersey, perched above the Hudson River with views of the Manhattan skyline. <\/p>\n He later sold the estate for $US5.6m ($8.4m).<\/p>\n The TV personality has also held residential assets in Ohio alongside an ocean-going sailing yacht.<\/p>\n After decades as a panellist on Fox News\u2019 The Five, Rivera dramatically quit the network in June 2023 following bitter conflicts with co-host Greg Gutfeld. <\/p>\n He now works as a political analyst and frequent news commentator.<\/p>\n MORE: \u2018Awful\u2019: I Dream of Jeannie star sad life at 95<\/a><\/p>\n Momoa\u2019s $15m Sam Neil payout to be near Aus<\/a><\/p>\n \u2018I left\u2019: Tragic curse of Power Rangers stars<\/a><\/p>\n Need to talk to someone?<\/p>\n Don\u2019t go it alone. Please reach out for help.<\/p>\n Lifeline: 13 11 14 or lifeline.org.au<\/p>\n Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636 or beyondblue.org.au<\/p>\n Kids Helpline: 1800 55 1800 or kidshelpline.com.au<\/p>\n Headspace: 1800 650 890 or headspace.org.au<\/p>\n Are you anxious? Take the Beyond Blue quiz to see how you\u2019re tracking and whether you could benefit from support<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They spent decades commanding the attention of millions every afternoon, arbitrating frantic paternity tests, refereeing chair-throwing brawls and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":946076,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,134],"class_list":["post-946075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=946075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/946076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=946075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=946075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=946075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n
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