Arianna Huffington

In 1971, she met Bernard Levin in an edition of ‘Face the music’ and soon a relationship developed between them. She always remained deeply in love with him but they parted ways in 1980 because Levin never wanted to marry or have children.

On April 12, 1986, she married Michael Huffington after six months of courtship and moved to Santa Barbara, California. The couple has two daughters, Christina Sophia Huffington and Isabella Diana Huffington. In 1997, the couple divorced following a disclosure by Michael Huffington that he is bisexual.

She was born to a journalist and management consultant Konstantinos and his wife Elli Stasinopoulos. Though she was close to her father, it was the relationship she shared with her mother that shaped her life.

Even during her formative years, she exhibited leadership skills for which she is still well-known. At 16 years of age, she moved to the United Kingdom to pursue her studies and enrolled in Girton College, Cambridge. During her college days, she joined the college debating society, Cambridge Union where she became the first foreign and third female president.

In 1972, she graduated with a master’s degree in Economics. After her graduation, she worked as a columnist, critic, and a television host. She also appeared in an edition of ‘Face the music’ along with Bernard Levin and began writing books taking editorial help from him.

In 1973, she wrote ‘The Female Woman’ which emerged as one of her career’s bestsellers. The book was a sensation and it questioned many early strains of the feminist movement. It brought her considerable amount of fame and success.

In 1978, she came out with her second book, ‘After reason’ which showed failure of Western society to satisfy the basic spiritual needs of man due to emergence of materialism. The book didn’t receive the expected response from public, so she began working for the British editions of ‘Vogue’, ‘Cosmopolitan’, and newspapers such as ‘Daily mail’ and ‘The Spectator’.

In 1980, she moved to New York due to some personal issues. The following year saw the release of her biographical book, ‘Maria Callas – The Woman Behind the Legend’. The book sold extremely well and made her a big hit in the city and this recognition introduced her to the city’s social elite.

In 1994, she was accused of stealing themes of an unpublished four-volume PhD thesis of Lydia Gasman and using it in her biography of Pablo Picasso in 1988. Gasman did not file any suit though. Columnist Maureen Orth also claimed that Huffington borrowed heavily for her 1993 book, ‘The Gods of Greece’.

In 1994, she gained national prominence during the unsuccessful senate bid by her then husband Michael Huffington. She became famous as a reliable supporter of conservative and became one of the most influential speakers of the Republican Party.

In 2003, she founded the ‘Detroit Project’ along with three other people for lobbying American automakers to build cars and SUVs that have higher fuel efficiency and use alternative fuels.

On May 9, 2005, she launched ‘The Huffington Post’ as a liberal outlet and alternative to certain news aggregators. Six years later she became the editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post media group.

On September 16, 2010, she participated in the 24th annual ‘Distinguished Speaker Series’ at the University of Buffalo, New York where she headlined a debate against radio co-host Mary Matalin on world events, political issues and local economy.

On October 30, 2010, she provided many buses to ferry people from Citi Field in Queens to RFK stadium in Washington DC who wanted to go to Jon Stewart’s ‘Rally to restore sanity and/or fear’.