What is Katie Hopkins's Net Worth and Salary?
Katie Hopkins is an English television personality, columnist, and former businesswoman who has a net worth of $500 thousand.
Katie Hopkins is notorious for her far-right political comments that many would consider racist. Her various statements and actions have gotten her into serious legal trouble. For example, in March 2018 Katie reportedly sold her Exeter home for 930,000 pounds to help pay for a civil libel judgment owed to British food writer Jack Monroe related to a defamation lawsuit. In 2020, she had her Twitter account suspended for hateful conduct, and in 2021 she was deported from Australia for deliberately violating COVID-19 safety protocols.
Early Life and Education
Katie Hopkins was born on February 13, 1975 in Barnstaple, Devon, England to a bank-teller mother and an electrical engineer father. She has an older sister. Raised in Bideford, Hopkins attended a private convent school from age three to 16. Growing up, she was infatuated with the military. Having received sponsorship from the British Army's Intelligence Corps, Hopkins studied economics at the University of Exeter and spent her weekends with the Officers' Training Corps. She finished her military training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, but was unable to take up her commission after having an epileptic seizure during the final passing-out ceremony.
Career Beginnings
In lieu of her military commission, Hopkins joined a business consultancy and moved to New York City. She returned to the UK in 2005, and the following year became a global brand consultant for the Met Office. Hopkins lost her job at the Met Office in mid-2007 after appearing on the British reality television show "The Apprentice," as she had failed to meet the required standards to complete her probationary period of employment.
Television Career
Hopkins first appeared on television in 2007 as a contestant on the third season of the British reality series "The Apprentice." She ultimately withdrew from the competition following the penultimate task due to disagreements with the show's host Alan Sugar. After "The Apprentice," Hopkins appeared in episodes of such shows as "8 Out of 10 Cats" and "The Friday Night Project." She also competed in the seventh season of the reality series "I'm a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!" on ITV. In the early 2010s, Hopkins appeared on "Question Time" and "10 O'Clock Live."
In 2015, Hopkins competed in the 15th season of the reality series "Celebrity Big Brother" on Channel 5. She ultimately came in second place. The same year, Hopkins was featured on the TLC program "My Fat Story" as she documented her weight-loss journey. She also launched her own TLC program, the panel show "If Katie Hopkins Ruled the World." Due to low ratings, the show was canceled after seven episodes. Among her other notable television credits, Hopkins has been a guest on various conservative news programs.
Other Media Appearances
Hopkins has appeared often on the radio, online, and in print publications. From 2013 to 2015, she was a weekly columnist for the tabloid newspaper the Sun. After that, Hopkins began writing for Mail Online, the online companion to the tabloid the Daily Mail. She was fired from her position in late 2017. Meanwhile, from 2016 to 2017, Hopkins hosted a Sunday morning talk show on the London-based station LBC. Once again, her job ended in termination, as she was fired from the station after she made inflammatory comments on Twitter about the Manchester Arena bombing. Hopkins went on to join the far-right website the Rebel Media in early 2018; she was fired later in the year. In mid-2020, Hopkins was suspended from Twitter for hateful conduct. Her account was reinstated three years later.
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Social and Political Views
Hopkins is notorious for her social and political views. She has been called a "professional troll" for her numerous controversial statements, some of which have been called anti-Islam and anti-migrant.
In 2017, she earned backlash for saying there was a "Muslim mafia" in Britain that needed to be fought, and that the country was experiencing "institutionalized discrimination against whites." Hopkins has stated that "Islam disgusts me," and has endorsed the banning of burqas. She is also opposed to multiculturalism, claiming that increased crime is a direct result of it. Infamously, Hopkins penned a column for the Sun comparing migrants to cockroaches and feral creatures, and later stated that "racial profiling is a good thing." In her other views, Hopkins has been called classist and anti-feminist.
Legal Issues
Hopkins has gotten into various legal troubles for her public invective and defamatory statements. In late 2016, she was involved in a libel case for writing two articles on Mail Online claiming that the members of the Mahmood family, who had been stopped from boarding a flight from Gatwick to Los Angeles, were Islamic extremists.
Hopkins was involved in another libel case, Monroe v Hopkins, in 2017. The case was brought against her by writer and anti-poverty campaigner Jack Monroe, whom Hopkins had falsely accused of vandalizing a war memorial, having confused him with journalist Laurie Penny. She subsequently refused to apologize. Monroe won the case, and Hopkins was forced to sell her family home to pay for her legal costs.
In 2020, Hopkins was sued by Finsbury Park Mosque for falsely linking it to a violent incident. She later issued an apology. The following year, while in Australia preparing to participate on the television show "Big Brother VIP," Hopkins was dropped from the show for posting on social media that she deliberately violated COVID-19 safety protocols. Moreover, she was fined for not wearing a mask, had her visa canceled, and was deported from Australia.
Personal Life
Hopkins married her first husband, entrepreneur Damian McKinney, in 2004. When they first met, McKinney was married to another woman. Soon after Hopkins gave birth to their second daughter, McKinney left her for a different woman, and they divorced in 2005. Hopkins went on to marry businessman Mark Cross in 2010; their marriage was filmed as part of the reality television show "Four Weddings."
Having struggled with epilepsy for her whole life, Hopkins underwent surgery in early 2016 to alleviate the severity of her condition. During the operation, she had a portion of her brain removed; although this effectively ended her epilepsy, it caused some other complications.
