Tony Robbins (born Anthony
J. Mahavoric; February 29, 1960) is an American motivational speaker, personal finance instructor, and self-help author. He became well known from his infomercials and self-help books: Unlimited Power, Unleash the Power Within and Awaken
the Giant Within.
In
2007, he was named in Forbes magazine's "Celebrity 100"
list. Forbes estimated that Robbins earned approximately
US$30 million in that year.
Robbins was born Anthony J.
Mahavoric in North Hollywood,
California, on February 29, 1960. His
surname was originally spelled 'Mohorović' and is of Croatian origin. Robbins is the eldest of three
children and his parents divorced when he was 7. His mother then had a series
of husbands, including Jim Robbins, a former semiprofessional baseball player
who legally adopted Anthony when he was 12.
His
father could not provide for their family, so he left them. His mother started
abusing alcohol and prescription drugs sometime after. While growing up,
Robbins was a primary care-giver, and helped provide for his siblings. Robbins
was raised in Azusa and Glendora,
California. He was elected student body president in his senior year and grew
10 inches in high school, a growth spurt later attributed to a pituitary tumor. He has said his home
life was "chaotic" and "abusive". When he was 17 years old,
Robbins' mother chased him out of the house with a knife, and he never returned. Robbins later worked as a janitor, and
did not attend college.
Robbins began his career
promoting seminars for Jim Rohn.
Later,
without any educational background in psychology, Robbins began his own work as
a self-help coach. He taught neurolinguistic
programming (NLP) and Ericksonian hypnosis after training with NLP co-founder John Grinder. In 1983, Robbins learned
to firewalk and began to incorporate it into his
seminars. Robbins' use of board
breaking, skydiving, and later firewalking in his seminars is intended to help
participants learn to push through their fears.
Robbins
promoted his services as a "peak performance coach" through his books
and TV infomercials. His first
infomercial, Personal Power,
was released in 1988 and produced by Guthy
Renker. Early infomercials
featured celebrities such as Pro
Football Hall of Fame quarterback Fran Tarkenton and actor Martin Sheen. By 1991, an estimated 100 million
Americans in 200 media markets had viewed his infomercials.
In
1997, Robbins began the Leadership Academy seminar. Robbins is a featured speaker on the
seminar circuit sponsored by Learning
Annex. Robbins appeared as a featured speaker at the 2006 Technology, Entertainment and Design
(TED) conference. As of May 2016, his talk was the seventh-most viewed TED talk.
Robbins has written three
best-selling books: Unlimited
Power, Awaken the Giant
Within, and Money: Master
the Game.
Unlimited
Power, published in 1986, discusses the topics of health and energy,
overcoming fears, persuasive communication, and enhancing relationships. In the book, Robbins argues that by
using neuro-linguistic
programming "anyone can
become successful at almost anything." According
to Magill Book Reviews, Robbins develops "a systematic framework for
directing our own brain."
Awaken
the Giant Within, published in 1991, according to The New York Times, the book
contains "ways to take control of your emotional, physical and financial
destiny." In 1994, Robbins
published Giant Steps, a
daily instructional book, in a pocket size. His third best-seller, Money: Master the Game, was
published in 2014, reached number one on the New
York Times' "Advice, How-To, & Miscellaneous" bestseller list
in December 2014, and went on to sell a million copies in its first year. The book contains information stemming
from his interviews with over 50 financial experts.
Robbins is involved with the Robbins-Madanes
Center for Strategic Intervention, which focuses on personal, family, and
organizational psychology, and claims to help people "find breakthrough
strategies and solutions for overcoming the problems that confront us all."
In
2014, Robbins, along with a group of investors including Magic Johnson, Mia Hamm, and Peter Guber, acquired rights to launch
a Major League Soccer franchise in Los Angeles, California. The team is scheduled to begin competition in
2017.
In 1984, Robbins and former
girlfriend Liz Acosta had a son Jairek
Robbins, who is also a personal empowerment trainer.
In
1985, he married Rebecca "Becky" Jenkins, after meeting her at a
seminar. Jenkins had three
children from two former marriages whom Robbins adopted. Robbins and Jenkins
filed for divorce 14 years later.
Robbins
married Bonnie "Sage" Humphrey, a phlebotomist and acupuncturist, in October 2001.
Robbins resides in Palm Beach,
Florida.
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