Acun Ilıcalı | |
---|---|
Born |
Edirne, Turkey |
29 May 1969
Nationality | Turkish |
Occupation | sport journalist, television personality and producer |
Years active | 1993 – present |
Net worth | $100 million |
Spouse(s) | Seda Ilıcalı (m. 1988–1993) Zeynep Ilıcalı (m. 2003-) |
Children | 4 |
Website | http://www.acunmedya.com & http://www.acunn.com |
Acun Ilıcalı (born 29 May 1969 in Edirne) is a Turkish television personality and producer. He is also the founder and VP of "Acun Medya" and also the owner of Turkish TV channel TV8.
Acun Ilıcalı was born on May 29, 1969 in Edirne to a family that originated from Ilıca, Erzurum. He completed his elementary education in Edirne. He went to secondary school in İstanbul at Kadıköy Maarif College and Anatolian High School. He enrolled at Istanbul University, but he dropped out and started working at an early age.
Ilıcalı started his business endeavours by founding a small clothing shop on Bağdat Caddesi. Things did not turn out as he expected, so when Acun was 21, the shop went bankrupt. After that disappointing first experience, he started working as a reporter at Show TV. After working several years there, Ilıcalı created his production company in 2004 and his company became one of the most successful companies of Turkey. In late 2013, he expanded his investments by acquiring television channel TV8.
Ilıcalı has been married twice, and has four children. He lost his parents just after his first child Banu was born. In 1993, he got divorced from his first wife Seda, with whom he had been married since 1988. He has been married to Zeynep Ilıcalı since 2003 and they currently have two daughters named Leyla and Yasemin. In 2010, Acun admitted to having an affair with Şeyma Subaşı. During the trial of his divorce with his second wife due to his infidelity, Acun's wealth was revealed to be around 50 million Turkish Lira which was equivalent to 25 million Euros at the time. Later he reconciled with his wife and the divorce was stopped. In late 2013, he had his fourth child Melisa with his girlfriend Şeyma Subaşı.
Ilıcalı started his television career as a sports reporter, and got promoted due to his success. After years of experience, he started his own show in which he travelled around the world. The show had such a great success that it enabled him to be known nationwide. The show was the first product of his company Acun Medya. Ilıcalı became both host and producer of the shows.
The company broadcast television shows such as O Ses Türkiye (Turkish version of The Voice), Yetenek Sizsiniz Türkiye (Turkish version of the Got Talent series), Survivor, Var mısın? Yok musun? (Turkish version of Deal or No Deal) and Yok Böyle Dans (Turkish version of Dancing with the Stars).