What is Vanna White's Net Worth and Salary?
Vanna White is an American television personality, model, and actress who has a net worth of $85 million. Vanna White's salary is $10 million. As we detail in the next section below, Vanna's salary did not change for 18 years between 2005 and 2023. During that stretch, her salary was just $3 million. When her co-host Pat Sajak announced his retirement in June 2023, and Ryan Seacrest was subsequently announced as his replacement, Vanna informed "Wheel" producers she would not return unless her salary was increased from $3 to $7.5 million. When combined with her salary for hosting other ABC shows, notably "Celebrity Wheel of Fortune," Vanna's all-in salary through the 2025-2026 season is $10 million.
As you know, Vanna White has earned fortune and fame as the long-running hostess and puzzle board turner on the syndicated game show "Wheel of Fortune." Contrary to what you might assume, Vanna white's net worth actually makes her $10 million RICHER than her co-host Pat Sajak. Pat's net worth is $75 million. The difference is thanks partially to real estate investments made with her former husband, real estate developer/restaurateur named George Santo Pietro. Vanna White's "Wheel of Fortune" salary is $10 million per year, but as we explain later in this article, that's not even her largest source of income every year. Vanna White and Pat Sajak make more every year licensing their image to casino slot machines than they do from the actual game show.
In June 2023, Pat Sajak announced he was planning to retire from "Wheel of Fortune" upon the conclusion of the show's 41st season. On June 27, 2023, Ryan Seacrest announced he had agreed to take over hosting duties from Sajak.
Vanna White Salary
Vanna White's salary from "Wheel of Fortune" is $3 million per year. Pat Sajak's salary is $15 million. In June 2023, it was revealed that Vanna White's salary had not been increased in 18 YEARS since her 2005 contract negotiation. The revelation about Vanna's salary came in the weeks following Pat's retirement announcement.
At first it was reported that her lawyer reportedly demanded that Sony raise Vanna's salary to at least 50% of Pat's $15 million salary before she would return for the 42nd season (when Ryan Seacrest takes over from Pat). That would increase Vanna White's salary from $3 million per year to $7.5 million per year. However, within a few weeks, one of Vanna's reps denied they ever suggested 50%, explaining:
"50 percent of Pat's salary is so outrageous that no one in their right mind could say that it's fair. The negotiation is asking for much more than 50% of his salary. It's asking for the same pay, if not more… Vanna was told, 'If you fight this, you will lose your job. You're lucky to have the job.' And when people tell you for so long, you believe it. She's really a sweet person. She deserves so much more."
In June of 2023 Vanna signed a separate new contract related to her work as the host of "Celebrity Wheel of Fortune" that reportedly came with a significant pay increase.
On September 19, 2023, it was announced that Vanna had signed a two-year extension to stay with "Wheel of Fortune." The new deal, which keeps Vanna spinning letters through the 2025-2026 season, reportedly increased her salary "substantially."
Vanna White's Salary Per Episode
Wherever Vanna White's salary ends up, it is an objectively good gig. Consider the taping schedule:
Wheel of Fortune tapes four days per month, six shows per day. They tape two Thursdays and two Fridays. On taping days, they both arrive around 8:30 am and start shooting at noon. One audience watches three shows, then there is a break for lunch. A second audience comes in to watch three more tapings.
In other words, Vanna and Pat work 48 days per year of work to earn $3 and $15 million per year, respectively. When you break it down, Vanna White earns $62,500 per workday. Pat Sajak earns $312,500 per workday.
But! As we explain in the next paragraph, Vanna White's Wheel of Fortune salary isn't even her biggest annual paycheck!
Casino Licensing Earnings
Believe it or not, Vanna White's salary from "Wheel of Fortune" isn't actually her largest source of annual income. Vanna White actually makes more money licensing her image to casino slot machines than she does from the game show itself.
Wheel of Fortune was actually the FIRST entertainment property to be licensed for use on slot machines. In 1996, the first Wheel of Fortune branded slot machines were placed in casinos in Las Vegas. They quickly proved to be extremely successful and were licensed to casinos around the world. Within a decade, the Wheel of Fortune branded slot machines were reported to be the highest revenue-generating slot machines in most casinos. There are an estimated 20,000 "Wheel" slot machines on casino floors around the world. In Las Vegas alone, Wheel of Fortune slot machines generate over $1 billion per year in gross revenue. Worldwide, the machines generate over $2 billion.
In exchange for licensing their respective images and likenesses for the slot machines, Pat and Vanna both earn at least $10 million per year, mostly from a base royalty payment and also from a variety of bonuses and appearance fees.
Total Annual Income
Total it all up, and between her "Wheel of Fortune" salary and casino licensing earnings, Vanna White's annual income easily tops $15 million every year.
(David Becker/Getty Images)
Early Life and Career Beginnings
Vanna Marie Rosich was born on February 18, 1957, in Conway, South Carolina. She is the daughter of Joan and Miguel Angel Rosich. Her father was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, and her mother was born in Syracuse, New York. Her parents divorced when she was a baby, and her father soon abandoned the family. Her mother eventually remarried a man named Herbert White, Jr., and Vanna took his last name. Herbert White was a real estate agent and broker in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
She was raised in North Myrtle Beach and graduated from North Myrtle Beach High School. She moved to Atlanta to attend the Atlanta School of Fashion and Design. During college, she was a contestant in the 1978 pageant for Miss Georgia USA. She finished as the fourth runner-up.
When Vanna White left North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, to pursue her dream of becoming a star, she had only $1,000 to her name. She waited tables and modeled while in college in Atlanta and while looking for fame and fortune in her early days in Los Angeles.
In 1979, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. On June 20, 1980, Vanna was a contestant on "The Price is Right." Here's footage of that episode:
Also in 1980, Vanna appeared in a movie called "Gypsy Angels" which was actually not completed and released until 1990.
In 1981, she had small roles in the films "Looker" and "Graduation Day."
In 1982, Vanna was struggling for money and did not want to ask her father for help to pay the rent. To make some cash, she agreed to pose for a series of lingerie photos for a photographer. As we detail in a moment, those photos were published in Playboy in 1987. Vanna unsuccessfully sued both Playboy and Hugh Hefner personally over the photos.
Playboy Lawsuit
In 1987, Vanna appeared in Playboy Magazine to the shock of middle America. The photos were actually taken in 1982, a few months before she landed the Wheel gig, by a photographer who wasn't even associated with Playboy. Five years later, the photographer sold the photos to Hugh Hefner and Playboy.
When she caught wind of Playboy's plans, Vanna reached out directly to Hefner, whom she considered a friend. She could not persuade him not to publish the photos.
After the photos were published, Vanna filed a $5.2 million lawsuit against Playboy, claiming that they were never intended for mass publication and that publishing them would "tarnish her image as a modest, wholesome, attractive and innocent all-American girl."
She also sued Hefner personally. Playboy claimed that Vanna was aware the magazine was planning to publish the photos and actually wanted them to come out around the same time as her autobiography was hitting bookstores. The lawsuit was eventually dropped.
Decades later, she would explain:
"I did something I shouldn't have done. When I first moved to Hollywood, I was too embarrassed to ask my dad for rent money. I was young and I wanted to do it on my own. So, I did these lingerie shots and from the moment I said I would do them, I thought, 'I shouldn't be doing this, but I'm not going to ask my dad for money, so I'm just going to do it!'" – Vanna White
Wheel of Fortune
"Wheel of Fortune" was conceived by game-show genius Merv Griffin in the mid-1970s while he was on a family road trip spending his days playing the word game hangman. With the help of executives at his production company, they tweaked Hangman to create what became "Wheel of Fortune."
The game debuted on January 6, 1975. The original host was Chuck Woolery. Woolery was replaced in 1981 after demanding a large pay raise that Merv rejected. When Woolery's contract was not renewed, Merv chose a local NBC Los Angeles weatherman named Pat Sajak to be the new host.
Wheel of Fortune's original hostess was Susan Stafford. Stafford worked on the show from its debut in 1975 until October 1982, when she left to become a humanitarian worker.
An audition for her replacement was held, and over 200 of LA's most beautiful and talented models tried out for the gig. In the end, the choice came down to two women: Playboy centerfold Vicki McCarthy and Vanna White. As you know, Vanna got the gig.
Vanna White debuted as the show's regular hostess on December 13, 1982, and has remained as the show's primary hostess ever since.
White has worn more than 6,700 dresses with no repeats during her tenure on "Wheel of Fortune." She does not get to keep her wardrobe from the show. White's dresses are usually borrowed from designers and returned once she's done taping the show.
White was presented with a Guinness World Record on the May 24, 2013, episode of "Wheel of Fortune." Her world record is for "most frequent clapper." She clapped at least 3,480,864 times across the show's 30 seasons as of January 31, 2013.
She has made appearances on a number of television shows, such as "Just Shoot Me," "Married With Children," "The King of Queens," and "The A-Team."
Sony Lawsuit
In 1993, Vanna successfully sued the Samsung Electronics corporation over a commercial after the company aired a commercial that featured a smiling robot that turned letters on a game show. White asserted that the company was using her likeness without permission. Incredibly, Vanna ended up winning the lawsuit after several appeals and was awarded $403,000 in damages.
(Photo by David Livingston/Getty Images)
Personal Life
In the 1980's Vanna dated "Playgirl" centerfold and Chippendales-dancer-turned-actor John Gibson. They got engaged at some point in the 80s. Tragically, Gibson was killed in a plane crash in 1986 before they got married.
In the summer of 1980, she returned briefly to South Carolina to be with her mother as she battled ovarian cancer. Her mother lost her battle with the disease.
Vanna married restaurant owner George Santo Pietro in December 1990. Santo Pietro was born to a wealthy family in Beverly Hills. He launched his first restaurant in the early 1980s. He followed up with a successful sushi place called Sushi-Ko, which became a hot spot for celebrities. They had two children together: son Nicholas, born in 1994, and a daughter Giovanna, nicknamed Gigi, in 1997. White and Santo Pietro divorced in November 2002. From 2004 until 2006, White was engaged to Southern California businessman Michael Kaye, but the two never got married.
In 2012 Vanna been dating contractor John Donaldson. They met when one of Vanna's friends brought him to a BBQ at her house. They are still together today despite not ever legally marrying. John is the founder of JDC Construction + Development Group. JDC, which was founded in 1992, builds custom single-family homes and apartment communities (ranging from 100 to 600 units) throughout Northern and Southern California. JDC has built homes for many wealthy individuals and celebrities, including Richard Dreyfus, Dan Aykroyd, and Martin Mull.
Her grandmother taught her how to crochet when she was five. She continues this hobby to this day. After talking about her love of crocheting on the "Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson," she was contacted by the yarn manufacturer Lion Brand Yarns. The company contracted with her to create her own line of yarns called Vanna's Choice.
White is a patron of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. She has donated $1.8 million to date to St. Jude's. She plans to continue her philanthropic works after she retires from "Wheel of Fortune."
(Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images)
Real Estate
At one point, George Santo Pietro and Vanna lived in a gated community called The Mulholland Estates. They lived next door to Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty. They eventually built a 15,000-square-foot spec house in the gated community of Beverly Park. The couple lived in the home until their divorce in 2002. After their divorce, they both vacated the property, and for several years, they rented it for $175,000 per month. In 2017 they listed the house for sale for $47.5 million. They also owned another house nearby. They eventually sold the two properties separately. The second lot sold for $22 million. The primary lot that featured Vanna's mansion sold in June 2020 for $19.3 million. Here's a video tour of their former mansion:
White uses her income to invest in apartment buildings, and she likes flipping houses.
Her longtime primary residence has been a 10,000 square-foot mansion in the hills above Beverly Hills which she bought in the early 2000s for $3.4 million. Today, this home is likely worth north of $10 million.
In 2013, Vanna paid $1.125 million for a home in Sherman Oaks, California. She listed this home for rent in May 2020 for $20,000 per month.
