Biography

On the United States' 167th anniversary of independence, Geraldo Rivera was born as a quintessential American in Brooklyn, New York. Born to Cruz "Allen" and Lillian Friedman Rivera, Geraldo (né Gerald Riviera) was the firstborn son and second child of an interethnic & interfaith couple in a cultural capital of the United States (as Brooklyn was and is one of the five boroughs of New York City). He also joined his oldest sibling, Irene, in a Boricua Catholic and Reform Jewish household at one of the most-pivotal turning points in United States history, as the Great Depression was coming to an end and the United States entered World War Two just under two years beforehand.

After the Great Depression and World War Two ended, Geraldo (who was then called Gerald and "Jerry") moved from Brooklyn, New York City to West Babylon, Long Island with his family. Subsequently, he was joined by his adopted older brother (his cousin Wilfredo "Willie" Rivera) and his biological younger siblings, Sharon Rivera (whom would ask their parents to adopt Willie) and Craig Rivera (whom would become one of Geraldo's producers and a journalist). Along with his siblings, he grew up in a "mostly Jewish household" (per the condition of his formerly-estranged maternal grandparents, whom did not take well to their Ashkenazi Jewish daughter marrying the Puerto Rico-born Cruz Rivera, especially because Cruz broke his marital promise to convert to the Orthodox Judaism of Lillian Friedman).

When he graduated West Babylon High School in 1961, he enrolled at the University of Arizona with the intent to eventually pursue his law degree at Brooklyn Law School. Upon his graduation from the University of Arizona and return to his native New York City, he married his college sweetheart, Linda Kaye Coblentz. While he resided with Linda in Manhattan's Alphabet City neighborhood, he completed his legal studies in Brooklyn and worked as a New York Police Department detective.

Once he became a lawyer, he represented the Boricua-activist group known as "the Young Lords" and caught the attention of ABC News' Albert T. Primo (Al Primo). With Al's eye on him, he completed a journalism course at Columbia University and came to represent both the Boricua community & the overall Hispanic community in the United States. In fact, Al took him under his wing because he viewed him as an outstanding individual and as a potential candidate to represent Latinos within the news industry.

With the professional changes in Geraldo's life came personal changes. By September 1970, Geraldo had divorced Linda (whom he divorced in 1969) and begun dating Edie Vonnegut (whom he married just before he established himself as a journalist, and with whom he would write "A Special Kind of Courage"). In January 1972, he was newly married to Edie when he catapulted to overnight fame with his exposé of Willowbrook State School.

He would go on to interview his equally-notable father-in-law, author and Purple Heart recipient Kurt Vonnegut Jr., among other public figures during his tenure as the host of and chief anchor on ABC News' "Good Night America (1973)". He would also continue to be a investigative reporter and correspondent for ABC News. He subsequently fell out with his father-in-law when he began an affair with the ABC News producer whom would become his third wife, Sherryl 'Sheri' Raymond Rivera.

After his divorce from Edie Vonnegut (and the release of the book which he wrote with her), he married Sheri and continued to work with ABC News. He also fathered his firstborn child with Sheri, although doing so did not end up influencing him to focus on familial life and journalistic duties. In the Mid 1980s, he began an affair with another ABC News producer, Cynthia Cruikshank "C.C." Dyer; and he very publicly and ironically crossed Roone Arledge regarding an investigation into the late Marilyn Monroe and her relationships with the Kennedy brothers (John F. Kennedy, Sr. and Robert F. Kennedy, Sr.). He ended up being fired by ABC News as a result, although ABC News would claim that his donation to a mayoral candidate in C.C. Dyer's native Massachusetts created a professionally-insurmountable conflict of interest.

Once again, professional changes in Geraldo's life brought personal changes-and vice versa. With his firing from ABC News and divorce from Sheri, he became the host of "Geraldo (1987)" and the husband of C.C. Dyer. He additionally ended up making C.C.'s prediction that he would get another job come true, and that was because "Geraldo (1987)" came about as an opportunity in the midst of his ill-fated-yet-highly-rated exposé of the Chicago, Illinois-based vault of the late Al Capone. He even focused on familial life and professional duties for almost 13 years, fathering two daughters with C.C. (although he did have one son with another woman in between his third and fourth marriages) and becoming a co-owner of the "Two River Times" in Red Bank, New Jersey.

His eventual simultaneous hosting duties on "Geraldo (1987)" and CNBC's "Rivera Live (1993)" (along with his controversial memoir, "Exposing Myself") brought about even more changes. By Early 2000, he was no longer in a personal partnership or a professional partnership with C.C. Dyer, having been unfaithful to her and selling his share in the "Two River Times". In Late 2000, he began a relationship with news producer Erica Levy, whom would accept his move to Fox News Channel and become Erica Levy Rivera.

Being employed by Fox News Channel (FNC) from 2001 to 2023, he moved yet again just before the 20th anniversary of his marriage to Erica Levy Rivera. Within his almost-22 years at FNC, he married and resided with Erica in Manhattan (and also kept a residence with her in Edgewater, New Jersey). He also fathered his fifth and youngest (and Erica's only) child, and he moved with his family to his current (and Erica's childhood) hometown of Shaker Heights, Ohio.

As of July 2025, he resides in "Erica's [childhood] dream house" in Shaker Heights, plans to celebrate his 22nd wedding anniversary and continue to reside in his current hometown, and celebrates having become the father-in-law to Jason Grohowski (the husband of his and C.C. Dyer's daughter Simone, whom is a lawyer like her father was). He also is the father-in-law to the wives of his sons Gabriel Rivera (through Sheri Rivera) and Cruz Grant Rivera (through an anonymous woman), a surviving brother of Willie Rivera and Irene Rivera Hurst, and a grandfather as well as an uncle & extended-family family member to many across the United States-including to many people in his father's native Puerto Rico.
- IMDb mini biography by: Nickidewbear

His moustache

His glasses

His unfortunate exposé regarding the Chicago vault of particularly-infamous mobster Al Capone.

We have no right to complain about any condition affecting the quality of our lives, unless we are doing something about it.

[on why he once posted an extremely-misguided photo on X, then Twitter] There I was, 2:30 in the morning on Sunday morning. You know, I do the show Saturday night, I did a great show on black-on-black crime and race relations and the Trayvon Martin fallout and federal charges ... and I get home and there's no one to talk to, everyone's asleep. And you just sit around, I had a drink and, you know, I had taken that picture Saturday morning and I was looking at it, just going through and I said 'you know, I gotta tweet this thing. I look pretty good for a 70-year-old. And I think because I'm so old people will cut me some slack, they won't take it took seriously. And I just pushed the trigger.

In reference to his mansion in Shaker Heights: "This house is going to be my tomb. It has a great big basement and plenty of rooms for boxes. I brought most of my mementos."