Maria da Graca Xuxa Meneghel was born on 27 March 1963, in Santa Rosa, Brazil, of part Italian descent, and is a singer, actress, and businesswoman, best known for her various Spanish, Portuguese, and English shows. She is a two time winner of a Latin Grammy award, but is also known as the “Queen of the Shorties”. All of her efforts have helped put her net worth to where it is today.
How rich is Xuxa? As of late-2016, sources estimate a net worth that is at $1 billion, mostly earned through success in entertainment and business. She rose to prominence when she became part of “Xou da Xuxa” and is one of the first Brazilians to appear as part of Forbes Magazine’s richest artists. As she continues her endeavors, it is expected that her wealth will increase.
Xuxa Net Worth $1 billion
At the age of 15, Xuxa was discovered by a modelling agency which would start her career as she then appeared in various men’s and fashion magazines in Brazil as well as in the US. She appeared in Playboy, and was also known for her love affair with soccer legend Pele. In 1984, she was hired by Ford Models.
In 1983, her net worth was increasing at a fast rate, and she was offered a television role in the children’s program “Cluba de Crianca” – during this time, she taped during the weekends and modeled in New York City during weekdays. In 1986 she then received an offer to host a national children’s program, and her following was starting to increase as her program had an estimated viewership of 33 million, helping to significantly raise her net worth. Her show had skits, jokes, dancing and singing, and although “Xou da Xuxa” would end in 1992, it was followed up by another program called “Xuxa” which would continue to run for another six years. The popularity of “Xou da Xuxa” would lead to other opportunities for her, and in 1991 another show entitled “El Show de Xuxa” would become a hit.
She would release her first Spanish album entitled “Xuxa 1” which sold well. “El Show de Xuxa” also had an increasing viewership, and she would continue filming for the show until 1993. She was penned by New York Magazine as the “Latin American Madonna” and was then recognized by Forbes as one of the world’s highest paid entertainers. Her success in North and South America and Europe would continue to expand over the next few years, especially when she hosted an English show called “Xuxa”, although it did not find the same popularity and was cancelled after a season. The show would, however, be sold to other countries though she decided to stop working on her international career.
In 1994, she returned to Brazilian TV with “Xuxa Park”, and it helped create “Planeta Xuxa” which stayed on air until 2002. In 2001, the “Xuxa Park” set would be destroyed by a fire and it would lead to another show called “Xuxa no Mundo da Imaginacao”, however, this show had lower ratings. Four years later, “TV Xuxa” would debut as a daily morning show for kids of all ages, and it became very popular. The show had numerous international celebrities as guests and it would continue to run until 2014, when Xuxa had to stop television work due to sesamoiditis which effected her foot and therefore mobility. However, she recently signed a contract with Rede Record in2015 and is currently working on a new show.
For her personal life, Xuxa has never married, but it is known that she has a daughter with actor Luciano Szafir. She dated Pele in the 1980s and later Formula 1 legend Ayrton Senna. In 2012, she revealed that Michael Jackson once courted her, and one of her recent relationships has been with actor Junno Andrade.
