- Howie Mandel is a stand-up comedian and actor
- The Toronto native found fame with the 1980s hit TV show ‘St. Elsewhere’
- He’s been a judge on ‘America’s Got Talent’ since 2010
Canadian comedian and television host Howie Mandel, 66, made a name for himself as the host of Deal or No Deal in the early 2000s (and as the host and executive producer of the rebooted series). Now, he’s recognized for serving as a judge on America’s Got Talent. While he’s known to keep his private life under wraps, he has added personal tidbits about his life with his wife of 40 years, Terry Mandel, occasionally in interviews.
While appearing on Live! With Kelly and Ryan in 2019, he joked that his “lovely wife” is not the same person he once knew. “Now she’s in love with Bradley Cooper and not me,” he quipped after an image of her with the actor popped up on the talk show set’s screen. So, who is Terry Mandel? Read on to find out.
Terry Works In TV
Terry is a television producer who has remained largely out of the spotlight. She and Howie have known each other since they were children but didn’t start dating until high school. “We drove to the movies in my mother’s Cutlass Supreme. The car hit an ice patch and wound up teetering on its side before coming down on four wheels,” he recalled of their first date to The Wall Street Journal in 2018. They tied the knot on March 16, 1980 and have since welcomed three children together: Jackelyn Shultz, Alex Mandel, and Riley Mandel.
She Urged Him To Host A Game Show
Terry has been a huge supporter of Howie and his career. In fact, he once admitted he only took the Deal or No Deal job because of his wife. “In 2005, when I got asked to do a game show, there was no comics hosting game shows. And I said no to it three times. My wife told me to take the deal, and I took the deal,” he told The Gazette in 2018.
Howie Fell In Love With Her Humor
And although she’s now apparently in love with a completely different man, Howie revealed a quality of hers that makes her attractive to him: her sense of humor. “She made me laugh. It was wonderful to meet a witty woman,” he told Good Housekeeping in 2009. “Spending your life with someone who doesn’t have that wouldn’t be palatable.” He also revealed that neither of them are fond of working in the kitchen and consequently “eat out every night.”
Terry Got An Elephant As A Surprise Birthday Gift From Howie
However, something Terry is fond of is animals. In fact, Howie told Kelly Clarkson on her talk show in 2020 that his wife loves “any kind of animal,” so to surprise her for her birthday, he once rented an elephant for her and brought it to their home. Unfortunately, it didn’t go over well. He revealed his wife got bored within 30 minutes and the elephant caused $45,00 worth of damage to their property. Hopefully it’s a story they can laugh about together now!