What is The Fat Jewish's Net Worth?
The Fat Jewish is an American Instagram celebrity, writer, actor, model, and entrepreneur who has a net worth of $80 million. Also known as Josh Ostrovsky, he rose to fame thanks to the Instagram account "TheFatJewish." He started his Instagram account in 2009, and it went viral in 2013. He has more than 10 million followers and was named one of The 30 Most Influential People on the Internet by Time magazine in 2014. The Fat Jewish authored the book Money Pizza Respect in 2015 and appeared in films including "Ben Banks," "Zoolander 2," "Status Update," and "The American Meme." He has also appeared in music videos for The Chainsmokers, Dillon Francis, DNCE, and Charli XCX.
Alcohol Empire And Sale to Annheuser-Busch
The Fat Jewish is a co-founder of a company called Swish Beverages, which, in 2015, launched a wine label called White Girl Rosé. He has since released a series of alcohol brands. In 2018, Annheuser-Busch InBev acquired a minority stake in the company. In June 2019, Annheuser-Busch InBev acquired the entire business. At the time of the sale, an estimated 95% of Swish Beverage profits were generated by White Girl Rosé. The brand sold for a reported $150 – $200 million. Josh was the majority owner out of three co-founders. Between the two sales, Ostrovsky earned an estimated pre-tax $120 million.
Early Life
Ostrovsky was born on February 18, 1982, in New York City. His father is a Russian-born radiologist, Paul Ostrovsky, and his mother is a nutritionist named Rebecca. He grew up in Manhattan on the Upper West Side. Throughout his early years, he attended a number of schools, starting at the Packer School in Brooklyn and then attending Trevor Day School and the Dwight School in the Upper West Side. He attempted to become an actor early on and appeared in a number of commercials, including one for Hershey's.
After attending New York University and Skidmore College, he was expelled from both. He then enrolled at the State University in New York at Albany. He graduated in 2006 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism. While there, he joined a rap trip called Team Facelift, where he first started going under the name Fat Jew. The group formed in 2004 and signed with Duck Down Records before releasing an album in 2006 called "Mixed Emotions." They then broke up in 2010.
Career
In 2009, Ostrovsky was hired as an entertainment reporter who interviewed celebrities on "The Daily 10" on the E! Network. He then began hosting a rap interview web series called "An Intimate Conversation." He also successfully sold a show to Amazon in 2013 that was meant to parody the Williamsburg, Brooklyn hipster culture, though the show ultimately went unproduced.
Meanwhile, Ostrovsky had started an Instagram account under the handle "The Fat Jewish" in 2011. The account went viral in 2013 after he posted a video parodying the popular exercise spin class "SoulCycle." Later that year, his account was suspended due to inappropriate content. In response, he organized a rally outside of Instagram's New York office that was live-streamed on Vice.com. The rally was successful, as his account was restored after only 15 minutes. His account following continued to grow, and several major media publications published profiles on him, including "The New York Times" and "Time" magazine. He was named to Time's 2015 list of "The 30 Most Influential People on the Internet." The same year, he was also involved in a slight controversy when he was accused of posting screenshots of other comedians' jokes on his account without properly crediting them. He later edited his posts to give proper credit. His account still had over 10 million followers.
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Ostrovsky has channeled his success on social media into creating greater opportunities elsewhere in the world of entertainment. In June 2012, he signed a modeling contract with One Management and claims to be the world's first male plus-sized model. He appeared in a photo spread in "Inked" magazine in May of 2015 and also had his own show at New York Fashion Week the same year, where he debuted his collection of men's apparel under the label Dad Fashion Show.
In 2014, he signed a deal with Comedy Central to develop a scripted series based on his life. He also began making regular appearances on Bloomberg News in 2015 and starred in a Bud Light commercial that aired during Super Bowl XLIX. The same year, he appeared in music videos for DNCE and Charli XCX. His acting career also grew, as he appeared on a number of reality shows, such as "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" and a number of other films. Some of the films in which he has appeared include "Status Update" and the documentary "The American Meme." Additionally, he has signed deals with brands like Virgin Mobile, Burger King, Budweiser, Weight Watchers, and Stella Artois to do product placement in his Instagram posts. In 2015, he also signed up to be a spokesperson for the Seamless brand.
Another venture he has pursued has been the creation of his own beverage company. He is a co-founder of Swish Beverages, which launched the wine White Girl Rose in 2015. The brand then followed up the launch with the release of the Babe family of sparkling canned wines. In June 2019, Swish Beverages was acquired by Anheuser-Busch InBev, making it the largest wine investment to date by the beer brand.
Personal Life
Ostrovsky married his first wife, blogger Katie Sturino, in 2014. The couple announced they would be getting divorced in 2016. He then married Caitlin King. The two had a son together named Buddy in February of 2021. Ostrovsky has also been involved in a number of other weddings as officiant, as he is an ordained minister. He also published his book of essays and personal stories in 2015 called "Money Pizza Respect." The book title is based off of a radio show he formerly hosted on Apple Music.
Real Estate
In 2021, Josh paid $2.5 million for a home in Miami. He listed this home for sale in September 2024 for $4.25 million.
