Piers Morgan

In 1991, Piers Morgan married Marion Shalloe. The duo had three sons before divorcing in 2008. Morgan then remarried writer Celia Walden in 2010. The couple has one child as of now.

Piers Morgan was born as Piers Stefan O'Meara on March 30, 1965 in Newick, Sussex, England. His father Vincent Eamonn O'Meara was an Irish-born dentist who died when Piers was an infant.

After her husband’s death, Morgan’s mother, Gabrielle Georgina Sybille, remarried and he took his stepfather’s last name, thus becoming Piers Stefan Pughe-Morgan.

From the age of seven to thirteen, he studied at the independent school Cumnor House. Morgan then went on to attend the comprehensive secondary institution Chailey School after his pub owner parents eventually ran out of money.

At the comprehensive school, he was bullied and even beaten up by his classmates. He then attended Priory School before studying journalism at the Harlow College.

Piers Morgan began his journalistic career in the 1980s. After working at Lloyd's of London for a brief period, he started out as a reporter at the Surrey and South London Newspaper Group where he worked for the South London News as well as the Streatham and Tooting News.

He was then recruited by ‘The Sun’ as an entertainment editor. There he got the opportunity to hold his first ever high-profile post as the chief writer of "Bizarre,” the newspaper's show business column.

In 1994, Rupert Murdoch appointed Morgan as the editor of the ‘News of the World.’ Upon his selection, Morgan became one of the youngest editors of a national British newspaper.

He then joined the ‘Daily Mirror’ as an editor. He worked there until 2004 when he was fired in the wake of the Abu Ghraib torture scandal. He had published photographs that showed British soldiers abusing Iraqi convicts; however, the pictures were later proven to be fake.

After losing his top post at the ‘Daily Mirror,’ he decided to recreate himself as a media personality and gained ownership of the media trade publication ‘Press Gazette’ in 2005 in partnership with Matthew Freud. Later, the publication entered administrative receivership before being sold to a trade buyer.

Piers Morgan's television career began after his departure from the ‘Daily Mirror.’ In 2003, he presented BBC’s three-part television documentary series titled ‘The Importance of Being Famous’.

He then co-hosted his own interview show on Channel 4 alongside Amanda Platell. The show was cancelled after three series due to poor ratings. It was also reported that Channel 4’s chairman Luke Johnson didn’t like the program.

Throughout 2006, the British journalist served as a judge on the reality show ‘America's Got Talent’ where he was joined by David Hasselhoff and Brandy Norwood.

In 2007, he appeared as a celebrity contender on ‘Comic Relief Does The Apprentice’. The same year, Morgan joined the 2nd season of ‘America's Got Talent’ as a judge. He also appeared as a judge on ITV’s ‘Britain's Got Talent’ alongside Simon Cowell and Amanda Holden. During that time, he presented BBC One’s ‘You Can't Fire Me, I'm Famous’ as well.

Morgan presented ‘Piers Morgan on Sandbanks’, a three-part documentary for ITV, in January 2008.