By now, we can pretty much agree that the American media industry will make a show out of anything if it believes there is an audience for it and when you take two of America’s favourite things like television and cats, you are bound to find an audience for a show like My Cat From Hell which stars Jackson Galaxy, a cat behaviourist.
Galaxy has been hosting the show since May 2011 and also authored several books about cats. Now famed as the cat whisperer, his life and what he does for a living has piqued the interest of many over the years, with a lot of people wondering how he got to become a cat behaviourist and if his background prepared him for the career path.
Jackson Galaxy Has Always Loved Animals
To cat lovers and watchers of his show, he is known as Jackson Galaxy; but for the first two decades of his life, he went by his birth name Richard Kirshner. He was born on the 28th of April 1966 in New York City.
Details about his early life are unknown with the only information being that he changed his name to Jackson Galaxy in his twenties. Information about his parents, siblings or early life is unknown, including his education, with the only known fact being that he has a Master of Fine Arts in Acting.
It is fair to suggest that Jackson Galaxy did not set out to become a host on a cat program on television, having started out as a rock musician following a move to Boulder, Colorado, in 1992. In Colorado, his love for animals drove him to work in animal shelters, dedicating himself to their selfless care until 2002 when he decided to establish his own cat consultancy shop, Little Big Cat Inc., in collaboration with a Dr. Jean Hofve, who is a veterinarian.
Little Big Marked The Beginning of His TV Shows
The consultancy company would turn out to be the beginning of a journey that has led him to television, hitting a significant milestone in 2007 when he relocated to Los Angeles and continued his private practice as a cat consultant. His work across home care and cat training drew the attention of a number of influential personalities in Hollywood and he appeared on his first TV show, Think Like a Cat on the Game Show Network, with appearances on Animal Planet’s Cats 101 coming after.
Since his exposure to the media, he has been featured in a number of publications, including major ones like The New York Times, New York Post, USA Today, and a couple more.
When 2011 rolled around, Jackson Galaxy had secured his position as a leading cat expert in Los Angeles when he began to star in a reality TV show for Animal Planet titled My Cat From Hell. He has remained a host on the show ever since and also published a number of books, including titles like Catification: Designing a Happy and Stylish Home for Your Cat (and You!) and Catify to Satisfy: Simple Solutions for Creating a Cat-Friendly Home.
It Is Believed That He’s Worth Round $1 Million
Before he became known as a cat behaviourist and developed a show around his knowledge of the animals, he was a rock musician. While it is a profitable field, it wasn’t so for Jackson Galaxy, and until he began to host the show, My Cat from Hell, he did not earn a significant income.
Today, Jackson Galaxy is worth an estimated $1 million earned from his work on the show and sales from his several published books.
Another big source of income for the cat behaviourist is his eponymous site. There, Jackson offers a vast range of products that include toys, useful supplies for pets, apparel, and gifts. Given the reputation he has built over the years as someone who is passionate about improving the lives of animals and helping people who care for them do so, it is logical that a lot of pet owners feel comfortable patronizing him.
The Jackson Galaxy Projects Doesn’t Contribute To His Wealth
Founded in 2014, the Jackson Galaxy Project (JGP) is one of the most outstanding accomplishments of Jackson’s career. For him, launching the project was the realization of a dream he has always had: to better the lives of animals at risk and as well, help those who care for the animals get better at it. Because of how passionate Galaxy has been about this project, one may be led to think it is a profitable venture for him, this is not true.
JGP is a public nonprofit organization, a signature program of GreaterGood.org. In view of that, the project is more of a charitable cause than a profit-entity.
The Truth About His Sexuality
In a world driven by stereotypes, it is not surprising that there are rumours of Jackson Galaxy being gay. After all, he is a cat lover, and cats are usually considered feminine pets as much as it is widely assumed that only gay men have an affinity for traditionally female interests.
As he describes himself, he is “strictly bi-pet-sual” as he loves both dogs and cats, with the latter being the pet that has brought him success. He once asserted that he is a “crazy cat lady” while urging all the cat guys to come “out of the closet”.
Apart from being a cat lover, his looks and choice of clothing are among the things that have made many to question his sexuality. He has even acknowledged this, specifying that even his accessories, hair, and tattoos have made many people look at him and think he’s gay. But then, the facts suggest otherwise as Jackson is married to a woman.
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He’s Married to Minoo Rabar
Jackson has been married to a woman named Minoo Rabar since 2014. While this offers an insight into his sexual orientation, it doesn’t specify if he is straight. As far as people can tell, he could be bi-sexual just as he is “bi-pet-sual”. In a nutshell, the truth about his sexuality is best known to him but if one must take a stance on the matter, we’d say he is straight.
He met his wife at a fundraising event for a cat rescue which was organized by the woman he later married. Their love for animals began a relationship that eventually led to a wedding on the 29th of June, 2014.
Their wedding was held at Kanab, Utah, at a no-kill pet sanctuary, Best Friends Animal Society. So far, the two do not have any children but as you can easily guess, they are parents to several pets.
