Danielle Steel Net Worth

What is Danielle Steel's Net Worth?

Danielle Steel is a prolific American novelist who has a net worth of $600 million. Danielle Steel stands as one of the world's most successful authors, with a career spanning five decades and sales exceeding 800 million copies of her books worldwide. Known for her prolific output and commitment to her craft, Steel has published over 190 books, with many becoming international bestsellers and more than 20 adapted for television. Her novels, primarily centered on themes of relationships, family dynamics, and resilience through hardship, have earned her a devoted global readership and consistent placement on bestseller lists. Despite critical debates about her work's literary merit, Steel's commercial success and cultural impact have made her a towering figure in popular fiction, whose stories of love, loss, and personal triumph continue to resonate with readers around the world.

Steel began her writing career in the early 1970s, publishing her first novel, "Going Home," in 1973. Her breakthrough came with "The Promise" (1978), establishing the emotional depth and relationship focus that would become her hallmark. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, her popularity soared as she consistently produced multiple bestsellers each year, becoming a fixture on The New York Times Best Seller List.

What sets Steel apart from many other bestselling authors is her legendary work ethic and productivity. Known to work for 20+ hours at a stretch on her vintage Olympia typewriter, she typically produces multiple books simultaneously and publishes several new titles annually. This disciplined approach to writing has allowed her to maintain a remarkably consistent output despite personal challenges, including five marriages and raising nine children.

Steel's novels often feature strong female protagonists facing and overcoming significant life challenges. While critics have sometimes dismissed her work for its formulaic elements and idealized romantic scenarios, her devoted readers appreciate the emotional resonance and escapism her stories provide. Her ability to create compelling characters facing relatable struggles has transcended changing cultural trends.

Beyond her writing, Steel has established herself as a notable philanthropist, particularly in mental health awareness and child welfare causes. Her dedication to these issues stems partly from personal experience, including the loss of her son Nicholas to suicide, which led her to found the Nick Traina Foundation.

Early Life

Danielle Steel was born Danielle Fernandes Dominique Schuelein-Steel on August 14, 1947, in New York, New York. She grew up with a Portuguese mother, Norma, and a German father, John, and spent a great deal of her youth in France, where she often attended her parents' lavish dinner parties with the rich and famous. John was a descendant of Joseph Schülein, the owner of Löwenbräu beer, and Norma was the daughter of Portuguese diplomat Gil da Camara Stone dos Reis. John and Norma divorced when Danielle was eight years old, and she rarely saw her mother after that. Steel was raised by her father in New York, and she graduated from the Lycée Français de New York in 1965. She attended Parsons School of Design and New York University, studying fashion design and literature design, but she dropped out after suffering a few health scares.

Danielle began writing stories when she was a child and started writing poetry as a teenager. She wrote her first manuscript at age 19 while attending NYU and adjusting to married life, and after her first child was born, Steel got a job at Supergirls, a New York advertising agency. One of Supergirls' clients was John Mack Carter, the editor of "Ladies' Home Journal," and he encouraged Danielle to write a book. In the early 1970s, she took a copywriting job at San Francisco's Grey Advertising Agency, and in 1973, she published her first novel, "Going Home."

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Career

After the publication of "Going Home," Steel's next few manuscripts were rejected, but by the end of the decade, she would publish five more novels: "Passion's Promise" (1977), "Now and Forever" (1978), "The Promise" (1978), "Season of Passion" (1979), and "Summer's End" (1979). "The Promise" was the first Steel novel to be adapted into a film; it was released in 1979 and starred Kathleen Quinlan and Stephen Collins. In the 1980s, Danielle published 20 novels, including "A Perfect Stranger" (1983), "Wanderlust" (1986), and "Daddy" (1989), as well as the non-fiction books "Love: Poems" (1984) and "Having a Baby" (1984). In 1989, Steel released the first six books in the "Max & Martha" series. Twenty of her novels were adapted into films or miniseries in the 1990s, and "Jewels" (1992) earned Golden Globe nominations for Best Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television and Best Performance by an Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television (Anthony Andrews). That decade, 12 of Danielle's novels reached #1 on "The New York Times" Bestseller List," and she released the four books in her "Freddie" series in 1992.

Since 2000, Steel has published more than 70 novels, and she released the non-fiction books "A Gift of Hope: Helping the Homeless" (2012), "Pure Joy: The Dogs We Love" (2013), and "Expect a Miracle" (2020) and the picture books "The Happiest Hippo in the World" (2009), "Pretty Minnie in Paris" (2014), and "Pretty Minnie in Hollywood" (2016). In 2013, she released the album "Love Notes," which includes ten tracks that were written by Steel (with help from three French composers). Danielle has called the album "a team effort among me, the three composers, four arrangers, seven musicians, and two singers," and four of the tracks are in French. In 2020, Steel published six novels – "Moral Compass," "The Numbers Game," "The Wedding Dress," "Daddy's Girls," "Royal," and "All That Glitters" – and "Neighbors," "The Affair," "Finding Ashley," "Nine Lives," and "Complications" are set to be released in 2021.

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Personal Life

Danielle has been married and divorced five times. She was married to banker Claude-Eric Lazard from 1965 to 1974, and they had a daughter, Beatrix, in 1968. In 1972, Steel met bank robber Danny Zugelder when she visited Lompoc Correctional Institute in 1972 to interview a friend who was incarcerated there. He moved in with Danielle after being paroled in 1973, but he was arrested again in 1974 and convicted of robbery and sexual assault. Steel and Zugelder wed in the Vacaville state penitentiary's inmate canteen in 1975. They divorced in 1978, and the day after their divorce was finalized, she wed heroin addict William Toth. Danielle met Toth when she hired his moving company, and she was eight months pregnant with their son, Nick, when they married. The couple divorced in 1981, and sadly, 19-year-old Nick died by suicide in September 1997. The following year, Steel published the book "His Bright Light: The Story of Nick Traina," which focused on Nick's struggles with drugs and mental illness, and she donated the proceeds to her charitable organization, the Nick Traina Foundation.

In 1981, Danielle married vintner John Traina, and they had five children together: Samantha (born in 1982), Victoria (born in 1983), Vanessa (born in 1984), Maximilian (born in 1986), and Zara (born in 1987). Traina formally adopted Nick, and Danielle was stepmother to John's sons, Trevor and Todd. Steel and Traina divorced in 1996, and two years later, she married financier Thomas J. Perkins, but they split up in 2002. In 2003, Danielle opened a San Francisco art gallery, Steel Gallery, and after it closed in 2007, she curated shows for the Andrea Schwartz Gallery.

Awards and Honors

Steel was inducted into the California Hall of Fame in 2009, and the French government named her an Officier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2002. That year, "The Kiss" won a Lucien Barrière Literary Award at the Deauville Film Festival. Danielle has been honored for her charity work many times, and in May 2009, she became the first non-physician to be awarded the "Distinguished Service in Mental Health Award" from New York Presbyterian Hospital. The American Psychiatric Association also honored Steel with a "Distinguished Service Award," and she received an "Outstanding Achievement Award" from the California Psychiatric Association and a "Service to Youth Award" from St. Mary's Medical Center and the University of San Francisco Catholic Youth Organization.

Spreckels "Sugar Daddy" Mansion

Danielle Steel's primary home is a sprawling mansion that covers an entire city block in San Francisco's Pacific Heights neighborhood. Known as "The Spreckels Mansion," it was built between 1912 and 1913 by businessman Adolph B. Spreckels. Adolph earned his fortune as the heir to the Spreckels Sugar Company. Adolph was famously nicknamed "sugar daddy" by his wife, Alma de Bretteville, thanks to their 24-year age gap. And that is where the phrase "sugar daddy" originated. Adolph built the family mansion as a gift to Alma. He spent $1 million construction of the property, roughly $40 million in today's dollars, after combining several lots and moving EIGHT homes. Adolph died in 1924. Alma died in 1968.

Danielle acquired the property for $5-6 million after it had been subdivided into four units. She re-combined the property. Much to her neighbors' dismay, soon after buying the mansion, Danielle added a 30-foot high privacy hedge around the property. Neighbors affectionately refer to the hedge as "Danielle Steel's bush." It's difficult to estimate the value of the Spreckels mansion if it ever came to market. Certainly over $100 million. Perhaps as much as $200 million.

The Spreckels Mansion is a 14,966-square-foot home featuring approximately 55 rooms, including parlors, formal sitting rooms, and specialty spaces such as a Louis XVI-style ballroom. Though the exact number of bedrooms is not widely publicized, property records suggest the mansion has about 8 bedrooms and 9 bathrooms. The estate is three stories high and constructed of white limestone, designed in a French Baroque château style. Notable architectural elements include a grand two-story entry hall with a stained-glass dome, sweeping staircases, and ornate detailing, reflecting the Gilded Age luxury of the early 20th century.

Other Real Estate

In August 2014, Danielle put her nearly 3,500-square-foot Stinson Beach, California, home on the market for $8.995 million. The 4-bedroom, fully-furnished home sold for $8 million in November of that year. In 2012, Steel sold a 3,000-square-foot Stinson Beach home for $2.579 million, much less than the $6.5 million she paid for it in 2002. Danielle also owns a home in Paris as well as the 55-room Spreckels Mansion in San Francisco.

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