Maury Povich, 86, Recalls Being ‘Dead Broke’ During His Career

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Maury Povich’s synonymous daytime talk show may be a pop culture touchstone, but the host himself just made a major financial confession: He was “dead broke” well into his 40s.

Povich, now 86, recalled those financially difficult years on the Monday, April 7, episode of his On Par podcast. Speaking with hockey star Sean Avery, the talk show host gave insight into his own backstory in the entertainment industry.

“I was dead broke at 44. I mean, really dead broke,” Povich shared. “At 44, I had just come back [from] starting out in Washington, D.C., where I was a kind of a minor celebrity, trying to say, ‘Can I make it somewhere else?’”

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That “somewhere else” included working in “five cities over the next seven years,” he explained, listing off each one: “Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and back to Washington.”

Povich reiterated: “I’m 44, and I got nothing. … Money-wise, dead f***ing broke.” His big break came when he was offered the position to host A Current Affair — ”this crazy tabloid show,” as he called it — in New York City. The Fox show became “the biggest show for the next five years in syndicated television,” Povich recalled. He hosted A Current Affair from 1986 to 1990.

Still, the TV personality claimed he was “almost 50 before I made any money, any scratch.” Povich’s financial instability was a great source of stress for his father in particular.

“My father was so worried that money just burned through me, that there was a hole in my pocket,” Povich recalled.

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As Povich — who hosted his eponymous talk show, Maury, from 1991 to 2022 for a total of 31 seasons — told it, he was “dead in my 50s or 60s” until the actual money began rolling in. That’s finally when his dad could relax.

“He’s almost 90 and he says, ‘I’m not going to worry about you anymore,’” Povich recalled.

“I think everybody should get to the point where their parents don’t have to worry about them anymore,” he advised, reminding both Avery and his listeners that he was nearly a senior citizen by the time he could say that.