Geraldo Rivera | |
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Rivera in 2011
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Born |
Gerald Michael Rivera July 4, 1943 Manhattan, New York City, U.S. |
Alma mater |
University of Arizona Brooklyn Law School |
Occupation | Journalist, talk show host, writer, attorney |
Years active | 1980–present |
Organization | Fox News Channel |
Television |
Geraldo Geraldo at Large The Five |
Political party | Republican |
Spouse(s) |
Linda Coblentz (m. 1965–69) Edith Vonnegut (m. 1971–75) Sherryl Raymond (m. 1976–84) C.C. Dyer (m. 1987–2000) Erica Michelle Levy (m. 2003) |
Children | 6 |
Family | Craig Rivera (brother) |
Website | www |
Gerald Michael Rivera (born July 4, 1943), better known as Geraldo Rivera (/ˌhɜːrˈɔːldoʊ ˌrɪˈvɛrə/), is an American attorney, reporter, author, and talk show host. He was the host of the talk show Geraldo from 1987 to 1998. Rivera hosted the newsmagazine program Geraldo at Large, hosts the occasional broadcast of Geraldo Rivera Reports (in lieu of hosting At Large), and appears regularly on Fox News Channel programs such as The Five.
Rivera was born at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City, New York, the son of Lillian (née Friedman) and Cruz "Allen" Rivera (October 1, 1915 – November 1987), a restaurant worker and cab driver. Rivera's father was a Catholic Puerto Rican, and his mother is of Ashkenazi Russian Jewish descent. He was raised "mostly Jewish" and had a Bar Mitzvah ceremony. He grew up in Brooklyn and West Babylon, New York, where he attended West Babylon High School. Rivera's family was sometimes subjected to prejudice and racism, and took to spelling their surname as "Riviera" because they thought it sounded "less ethnic".