Vanna White’s Net Worth is $85 Million
You know her, you love her, she’s been spinning those letters on the crowd-fave show Wheel of Fortune forever. She’s Vanna White. From humble beginnings in South Carolina, White has worked her way up and racked up an astonishing net worth of $85 million by 2023. How, you ask? She is a woman of letters, and clearly there’s money to be made in taking them for a spin! What’s more, she’s been doing so for 40 years. All those vowels add up.
When she’s not helping contestants solve puzzles, this southern goddess is also a trendsetter, an entrepreneur, and a role model—not to mention she’s got a swanky line in the real estate business and makes a sweet profit from those Wheel of Fortune slot machines. When you win, Vanna wins (heck, even when you lose, Vanna wins).
The main reason she has the net worth she does? She’s dedicated, committed, and so in love with what she does. And that passion has made her a TV icon and fan favorite that will keep her wealthy long after she has hung up her consonants.
| Name | Vanna Marie Rosich |
| Profession | Television presenter, businesswoman |
| Net Worth | $85 million |
| Birthplace | Conway, South Carolina, USA |
| Birthday | February 18, 1957 (Aquarius) |
| Nationality | American |
| Height | 5 ft. 6 in. (167 cm) |
| Relationship status | In a relationship (with John Donaldson since 2012) |
A Peek into the Past: White’s Early Life & Career Breakthrough
It’s February 18, 1957, and Vanna Marie Rosich (a.k.a. White) has just made her world debut in a little town called North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. You may not know this, but her real father wasn’t actually White. Her parents split when she was a kid, and it was her stepdad Herbert White Jr, a real-estate hotshot back then, whose surname she adopted.
Like so many of us, she had big dreams; she pursued those dreams after graduating high school, bouncing off to Atlanta, Georgia. Here, she studied at the Atlanta School of Fashion and Design and kicked off her career in showbiz as a model. But Vanna did not stop there. She took the next big step in 1979 and moved to L.A. to try her hand at acting.
Here’s when Vanna’s life journey gets interesting. A few years after her arrival in Tinseltown, Vanna’s doing the rounds on various game shows and popping up here and there on TV shows and in movies. But 1982, that was THE game-changer. That was the year she landed the co-hosting gig on Wheel of Fortune. Suddenly, Vanna became a household name across America and started her long, impressive run on the show that’s still ongoing.
People just fell in love with her – her striking personality, her infectious style, and her likable nature. Being on Wheel of Fortune may have shot her to fame but she played a massive role in gearing the show’s popularity too.
Turning Letters… and Profits: White’s Revenues from her Primary Career
Rising from a game show contender in her younger years to the knockout co-host she is today, Vanna White has taken the world of television by storm. Along with serious fame, she’s banked some serious cash—most of it thanks to her gig on Wheel of Fortune.
Let’s crunch some numbers, shall we? Wheel of Fortune churns out six episodes a day for four days each month. That’s 288 episodes in just 48 working days! With that pace, our girl Vanna pulls in a mind-blowing $10,416.67 an episode, which is a hefty $62,500 paycheck per day of work. Plus, her annual salary is rumored to be around $3 million.
Beyond the Wheel: Additional Sources Fueling White’s Wealth
Vanna White is more than just a pretty face on the Wheel of Fortune set. She’s a bona fide boss lady with cash flow coming from all corners. From writing a bestselling book to the rather unexpected business of casino slot machines, she’s proven she’s got the knack for making big bucks.
In 1987, at the height of her powers, White wrote her memoir, Vanna Speaks, and it flew off the shelves, becoming a bestseller. The publishers were so sure of its success, they paid Vanna an advance of $250,000 even before the book launched.
Moving from the written word to yarn, White turned her passion for crochet into a full-blown business. She’s now the face of the yarn brand, Vanna’s Choice. She doesn’t own the company, but being the brand’s champ has given her a solid crafting kingdom. All of this comes from her love of sharing handmade gifts, something she inherited from her grandma and now shares with her daughter.
The most mind-blowing part of her income actually has nothing to do with crafting or writing. It’s all about casino slot machines. Wheel of Fortune was the first TV show to license its brand for slot machines back in ’96. And these slots hit the jackpot! They make $1 billion a year in gross revenue. That bucks up White’s fortune by $15 million a year, not to mention the bonuses and appearance fees thrown in.
White’s Wealth in Action: Notable Possessions and Philanthropy
Vanna’s affluent lifestyle is applaud-worthy, from her sprawling estates to her personal goodies and astute investments. Her forays into real estate are nothing short of amazing as she purchases lavish homes and then sells them when the market’s hot for so much more.
White and her ex-husband George Santo Pietro once called the swanky Mulholland Estates their home, rubbing shoulders with superstars like Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty. They then swapped their real estate hats for construction helmets, assembling a sprawling 15,000-square-foot property in the ritzy gated neighborhood of Beverly Park. Post-split in 2002, they rented out this plush palace for an eye-watering $175K a month. Despite being a considerable form of income, the property was eventually sold in June 2020 for $19.3 million. And before wiping their hands of the neighborhood for good, they made an extra $22 million on another nearby property.
Now, from big houses to big hearts. Vanna is all about giving back. She’s done an enormous amount of charity work, especially for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. To date, she’s shelled out $1.8 million to this incredible cause and doesn’t plan on stopping her feel-good contributions after retiring. She seriously believes in using her success to sprinkle some good vibes into the world.
Behind the Letters: Vanna White’s Personal Life
Vanna tied the knot with George Santo Pietro, a restaurateur she met through friends, back in 1990. The pair had their share of ups and downs. They announced Vanna’s pregnancy on Wheel of Fortune, only to face tragedy with a miscarriage shortly after. They did eventually welcome two kids: Nicholas “Nikko” Santo Pietro and Giovanna “Gigi” Santo Pietro. As glamorous as her day job is, Vanna’s quick to admit that being a mom tops her list of favorite gigs.
Before meeting George Santo Pietro, Vanna suffered heartbreak in 1986, when her then-fiancé John Gibson died in a plane crash. Later, after she and Pietro split, she was engaged to Michael Kaye for a couple of years. These days, Vanna has been happily loved up with the dashing John Donaldson since 2012, and according to her, they’re like two jigsaw pieces that fit together.
Vanna White To Wed Longtime Boyfriend — And She Refuses To Sign A Prenup! ‘Wheel of Fortune’ queen puts $30M fortune on the line for beau John Donaldson. https://t.co/ETIFIyGi4R pic.twitter.com/Qwky5VsCGA
— Richard A. Lertzman (@ricklertzman) November 22, 2018
Legal Wrangles and Tussles: Major Events in Vanna White’s Journey
Vanna White’s life is as dazzling as the sequined gowns she rocks, but along with that dazzle comes drama. She locked horns with Samsung in 1993 over their use of a robot spinning a game show wheel in one of their ads. That cute move was mimicking Vanna’s gig at Wheel of Fortune. Vanna took umbrage with the mimicry and, after plenty of legal ping-pong, the courts sided with Vanna, awarding her a payout of $403,000.
When she’s not dealing in legal records, she’s breaking Guinness records. Vanna crunched the numbers and figured she had, as of January 2013, clapped approximately 3,480,864 times during her Wheel of Fortune tenure. FYI, she’s been on almost every single one of the episodes, since the show began airing in 1983.
