Philippe Petit was born on the 13th August 1949 in Nemours, Seine-et-Marne, France and is a high-wire artist, most famous for his 1,350 feet above the ground high-wire walk between the tops of the Twin Towers of the former World Trade Center in August 1974.
Have you ever wondered how much wealth this unusual artist has accumulated through the years? How rich Philippe Petit is? According to sources, it is estimated that the total amount of Philippe Petit’s net worth, as of late 2016, is $500,000, acquired through his numerous performances in several of the worlds’ most renowned capitals.
Philippe Petit Net Worth $500,000
The roots of Philippe Petit unusual professional path lay back in his childhood when he discovered juggling. Interested and dedicated, by the age of 17 Philippe self-taught himself to do every imaginable stunt a man can do on a high-wire – several variations of somersaults, the unicycle as well as bicycle, chair balancing as well as jumping through hoops. His first major performance, besides many on the streets of Paris, occurred in June 1971 when he juggled and balanced on a secretly installed wire on top of Notre Dame de Paris. This marked the beginning of Philippe Petit’s high wire artist career, and the establishment of his net worth.
Throughout the next several years, Philippe Petit regularly performed in various parks of the Big Apple. In 1973, Philippe took his extraordinary skill to the other side of the world, to Australia, where he crossed the Sydney Harbour Bridge. However, his most famous high-wire walk to this day occurred on the 7th August 1974 in New York City, when Philippe walked on a high-wire between the former Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. The performance lasted for about 45 minutes, during which Philippe Petit made eight passes on high-wire installed 1350-feet above the ground, using a special, custom made 26-foot long balancing pole weighting 55-pounds. This achievement has certainly written Philippe Petit’s name in the history books as well as in police records, media and news.
Although he was arrested for his “artistic crime of the century”, the authorities dropped the charges in exchange for another performance! Much harmless this time – a free aerial show for the kids in the heart of New York City – Central Park’s Belvedere Lake.
What seemed as a madman’s performance to a crowd on the street, or trespassing to police officers, took six years of careful planning. Philippe Petit spent months studying Twin Towers’ blueprints. He was even disguised as a news reporter or a constriction worker in order to photograph and measure the buildings. With the help of several friends, he hid the necessary equipment and secretly installed a 220-foot long steel cable. For all of these efforts, entertainment as well as for bringing back the popularity to Twin Towers, Philippe Petit was awarded with a lifetime pass to the Twin Towers’ Observation Deck by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
In 2003 Philippe Petit was honored with an illustrated book for children named “The Man Who Walked Between the Towers” created by Mordicai Gerstein who was later rewarded with a Caldecott Medal. In 2005, the book was adapted into an eponymous short animated film, directed Michael Sporn. James Marsh in 2008 filmed a documentary about this epic stunt, named “Man on Wire”, was rewarded with several Sundance Film Festival awards as well as an Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2009. On the award receiving ceremony, Philippe Petit balanced the Oscar on his chin and performed the vanishing coin trick. It is certain that his renewed popularity have made a positive impact on Philippe Petit’s overall net worth.
Apart from his artistic performances, Philippe Petit is also an acclaimed author, with 12 published books so far. His memoirs were adapted in the 2015 biographical drama directed by Robert Zemeckis and featuring Joseph Godson-Levitt as Petit in “The Walk”. This venture has doubtlessly helped Philippe Petit to increase his overall net worth by a large margin.
Throughout his artistic career, Philippe Petit has shown his fantastic, daredevil skills all over the world including, apart from those mentioned above, Japan, Austria, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium. He has also appeared in over a dozen movies and inspired several songs.
In his personal life, Philippe’s partner and long-time supporter is Kathy O’Donnell.
