Anthony Jay Robbins ( Mahavoric, born February 29, 1960) is an American author, coach and

motivational speaker A motivational speaker (or inspirational speaker) is a speaker who makes speeches intended to motivate or inspire an audience. Such speakers may attempt to challenge or transform their audiences. The speech itself is popularly known as a pep ta ...

. He is known for his

seminar A seminar is a form of academic instruction, either at an academic institution or offered by a commercial or professional organization. It has the function of bringing together small groups for recurring meetings, focusing each time on some part ...

s, and

self-help book A self-help book is one that is written with the intention to instruct its readers on solving personal problems. The books take their name from ''Self-Help'', an 1859 best-seller by Samuel Smiles, but are also known and classified under "self-i ...

s including the books '' Unlimited Power'' and ''Awaken the Giant Within''.

Early life and education

Robbins was born Anthony J. Mahavoric in

North Hollywood, California North Hollywood is a neighborhood and district in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California. The neighborhood contains the NoHo Arts District, El Portal Theater, several art galleries, and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Th ...

, on February 29, 1960. The eldest of three children, his parents divorced when he was seven. He is of Croatian descent from both sides of his family. His mother remarried several times, including a marriage with Jim Robbins, a former semi-professional baseball player who legally adopted Anthony when he was 12. Robbins attended Glendora High School. During high school, he grew in one year, a growth spurt later attributed to a

pituitary tumor Pituitary adenomas are tumors that occur in the pituitary gland. Most pituitary tumors are benign, approximately 35% are invasive and just 0.1% to 0.2% are carcinomas. He has said his home life was "chaotic" and "abusive". When he was 17, he left home and never returned. He later worked as a janitor, and did not attend college. One day, he asked his landlord, a family friend, how he became so successful, and the landlord told him that he started to turn his life around after attending a Jim Rohn seminar.

Career

Robbins began promoting seminars for

and author Jim Rohn when he was 17 years old. He subsequently learned to firewalk and incorporated it into his seminars. In May 1995, Robbins Research International (RRI) settled with the

Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) United States antitrust law, antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. It ...

over alleged violations of the agency's

Franchise Rule The franchise rule defines acts or practices that are unfair or deceptive in the franchise industry in the United States. The franchise rule is published by the Federal Trade Commission. The franchise rule seeks to facilitate informed decisions a ...

. Under the settlement, RRI did not admit to having violated any law, but agreed to pay $221,260 in consumer redress. In 2000, Wade Cook sued Robbins for allegedly using copyrighted terms from Cook's book ''Wall Street Money Machine'' in his seminars. A jury awarded Cook a $655,900 judgment, which was appealed. Cook and Robbins settled for an undisclosed amount. In July 2010,

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

debuted ''Breakthrough with Tony Robbins'', a reality show that followed Robbins as he helped the show's participants face their personal challenges. NBC canceled the show after airing two of the planned six episodes due to low viewership of 2.8 million. In March 2012, the OWN Network picked up the show for another season beginning with the original first season set to re-run and thereafter leading directly into the new 2012 season. In April 2012, Robbins began cohosting '' Oprah's Lifeclass'' on the OWN Network. The Twitter Conference - Tony Robbins

In July 2012, the ''

San Jose Mercury News ''The Mercury News'' (formerly ''San Jose Mercury News'', often locally known as ''The Merc'') is a morning daily newspaper published in San Jose, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published by the Bay Area News Group, a subsidia ...

'' published a story reporting that several people had been burned and hospitalized during one of Robbins's fire-walking events on July 19, 2012. This story was picked up by other media outlets, including Fox News, ''The New York Times'', and CNN. Aspects of these reports were later challenged by Robbins himself along with some of the on-site medical professionals. On June 24, 2016, it was reported that "dozens were burned and required medical attention after attempting to walk on hot coals during a fire-walking event at a Tony Robbins seminar in Dallas, Texas". A spokeswoman for the Robbins organization stated, "Someone unfamiliar with the process of the fire-walk called 911 reporting the need for emergency service vehicles ��there was no need for emergency personnel ��only 5 of 7,000 participants requested an examination beyond what was readily available on site." In 2014, Robbins joined a group of investors to acquire rights to launch a

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

franchise in Los Angeles referred to as the

Los Angeles Football Club Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) is an American professional soccer club based in Los Angeles. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. It was established on October 30, 2014, and began play in the ...

. The team entered competition in 2018. In 2015, filmmaker

Joe Berlinger Joseph Berlinger (born October 30, 1961) is an American documentary filmmaker and producer. Particularly focused on true crime documentaries, Berlinger's films and docu-series draw attention to social justice issues in the US and abroad in such ...

directed and produced the documentary '' Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru'', about the Tony Robbins event "Date with Destiny" after filming it in Boca Raton, Florida, in December 2014. It premiered at the

South by Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

film festival in March 2016 and was released by

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

on July 15, 2016. In 2016, Robbins partnered with

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. Founded in 1946 i ...

co-owner

Peter Guber Howard Peter Guber (born March 1, 1942) is an American film producer, business executive, entrepreneur, educator, and author. He is chairman and CEO of Mandalay Entertainment. Guber's films have grossed over $3 billion worldwide and received ...

and

Washington Wizards The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. The team plays i ...

co-owner

Ted Leonsis Theodore John Leonsis (born January 8, 1957) is an American businessman. He is a former senior executive with America Online (AOL) and the founder, chairman, and CEO of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns the NHL's Washington Capitals, ...

to purchase

Team Liquid Team Liquid is a multi-regional professional esports organization based in the Netherlands that was founded in 2000. They signed their first professional players with the release of '' StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty''. In 2012, Team Liquid acq ...

, an

eSports Esports (), short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, played individually or as teams. ...

professional gaming organization. Robbins has worked on an individual basis with

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

Justin Tuck Justin Lee Tuck (born March 29, 1983) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Notre Dame, and was selected by the New York Giants in the th ...

Hugh Jackman Hugh Michael Jackman (born 12 October 1968) is an Australian and British actor, singer, and producer. Beginning in theatre and television, Jackman landed his breakthrough role as Wolverine in the ''X-Men'' film franchise and the Marvel Cinem ...

, and Pitbull. He has counseled businessmen Peter Guber,

Steve Wynn Stephen Alan Wynn ( Weinberg; born January 27, 1942) is an American real estate developer and art collector. He was known for his involvement in the luxury casino and hotel industry, prior to being forced to step down in 2018. Early in his care ...

, and

Marc Benioff Marc Russell Benioff (born September 25, 1964) is an American internet entrepreneur and philanthropist. Benioff is best known as the co-founder, chairman and CEO of the software company Salesforce, as well as being the owner of ''Time (magazine ...

Philanthropy

In 1991, Robbins founded the Anthony Robbins Foundation, to help young people, homeless people, hungry people, elderly people, and imprisoned people. The foundation is said to deliver food baskets and household essentials to approximately 2 million people each year across various countries. Additionally, its products and programs are reportedly present in over 2,000 schools, 700 prisons, and 100,000 health and human service organizations. In 2014, he donated the profits of his book, ''Money: Master the Game'', along with an additional personal donation, through

Feeding America Feeding America is a United States–based Nonprofit organization, non-profit organization that is a nationwide network of more than 200 food banks that feed more than 46 million people through food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, and other c ...

to provide meals to people in need. Robbins helped raise money for

Operation Underground Railroad Our Rescue (previously Operation Underground Railroad, abbreviated O.U.R., previously styled as "OUR Rescue") is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit United States–based anti–sex trafficking organization founded in 2013 by Tim Ballard. The or ...

Personal life

In 1984, Robbins married Rebecca Jenkins after meeting her at a seminar. Jenkins had three children, from two former marriages, whom Robbins adopted. Robbins and Jenkins filed for divorce in 1998. In 1984, Robbins fathered a child with former girlfriend Liz Acosta. Their son, Jairek Robbins, is also a personal empowerment coach and trainer. In October 2001, Robbins married Bonnie Sage Humphrey Robbins. They live in

Manalapan, Florida Manalapan is a town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida. The population was 419 at the 2020 United States census. History United States President Benjamin Harrison granted Ge ...

. Robbins was a

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products and the consumption of animal source foods, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. A person who practices veganism is known as a ve ...

for 12 years; he then reportedly added fish to his diet. While eating a fish-heavy diet, he developed

mercury poisoning Mercury poisoning is a type of metal poisoning due to exposure to mercury. Symptoms depend upon the type, dose, method, and duration of exposure. They may include muscle weakness, poor coordination, numbness in the hands and feet, skin rashe ...

and nearly died. His diet now consists of mostly vegetables with a small amount of animal protein. Robbins' net worth is estimated to be around $600 million. He owns the Namale Resort and Spa which is located in

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

. Robbins is a licensed helicopter pilot. In a 2013 interview with

Playboy ''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's Lifestyle journalism, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $ ...

magazine, Robbins disclosed that he had been diagnosed with

acromegaly Acromegaly is a disorder that results in excess growth of certain parts of the human body. It is caused by excess growth hormone (GH) after the growth plates have closed. The initial symptom is typically enlargement of the hands and feet. There ...

at age 31, but refused his doctor's recommendation to undergo brain surgery. Robbins is tall.

Sexual harassment allegations

In May 2019, an investigation by ''

BuzzFeed News ''BuzzFeed News'' was an American news website published by BuzzFeed beginning in 2011. It ceased posting new hard news content in May 2023. It published a number of high-profile scoops, including the Steele dossier, for which it was strong ...

'' detailed accusations against Robbins of the sexual harassment of fans and staff members, such as groping fans at events and exposing his genitals to his assistants. Robbins denied the allegations and said, "I have been the target of a year-long investigation by BuzzFeed. Unfortunately, your organization has made it clear to my team that you intend to move forward with publishing an inaccurate, agenda-driven version of the past, pierced with falsehoods." In November 2019, ''BuzzFeed News'' published a six-part article accusing Robbins of molesting a teenage girl during his time as a "star speaker" at SuperCamp, an elite summer camp in southern California. The article states that the events took place in 1985 when Robbins was 25, and that there were at least two eyewitnesses. Robbins denied wrongdoing and sued ''BuzzFeed News'' in Ireland. In response, ''BuzzFeed News'' said that it stood by its reporting and suggested that Robbins's decision to file the summons in Ireland was an "abuse" of the Irish court.

Select bibliography

* ''Unlimited Power: The New Science of Personal Achievement'' (1986). Free Press. . * ''Awaken the Giant Within'' (1991). Free Press. . * ''Giant Steps'' (1994). Touchstone. . * ''Money: Master the Game'' (2014). Simon & Schuster. . * Co-authored with Peter Mallouk (2017). ''Unshakeable: Your Financial Freedom Playbook''. Simon & Schuster. . * Co-authored with Peter Mallouk (2020). ''The Path: Accelerating Your Journey to Financial Freedom''. Post Hill Press. . * Co-authored with Peter Diamandis and Robert Hariri (2022). ''Life Force: How New Breakthroughs in Precision Medicine Can Transform the Quality of Your Life & Those You Love''. Simon & Schuster. .

References

External links

* *
''Tony Robbins''

Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...

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