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Howie Mandel Always Makes His Wife Terry Laugh! Meet the ‘AGT’ Judge’s Longtime Spouse
The hilarious Howie Mandel always keeps his wife, Terry Mandel (neé Soil), laughing! The America’s Got Talent judge married his spouse in 1980 and they have been inseparable ever since.
How Did Howie Mandel Meet Wife Terry Mandel?
Howie and Terry’s love story is seriously so sweet! The pair first met at a concession stand at their local youth center in Canada when they were teens.
“I actually borrowed money from her,” the comedian recalled of their first exchange during a May 2022 appearance on Today. “I didn’t know her, and I was short a couple of bucks for french fries and she lent me money. She was, like, 14 at the time and she lent me money. And I’ve been paying her back ever since.”
Though Terry, a talent agent and television producer, initially rejected Howie’s advances, she finally decided to let him take her out on a date.
“We drove to the movies in my mother’s Cutlass Supreme,” Howie said of their first date in a December 2018 interview with The Wall Street Journal. “The car hit an ice patch and wound up teetering on its side before coming down on four wheels.”
The couple’s first date experience was a bit hectic, but they were able to weather the storm. Howie proposed to Terry in an unconventional way after a few years of dating.
“I was sitting in a deli, and I’d bought a loose diamond, and I put it on the table and said, ‘I got to go to the bathroom, but if you want to make a ring go ahead,’” the Deal or No Deal star once told Streets of Toronto.
How Many Children Does Howie Mandel Have?
After their 1980 nuptials, Howie took on the role of fatherhood. Terry gave birth to their first child together, daughter Jackelyn Shultz, in 1984. Their second child, son Alex Mandel, arrived in 1989. Howie and Terry expanded their family once more in 1992 with the arrival of their youngest daughter, Riley Mandel.
Over the years, Howie has continued to teach his kids important life lessons about finding their own passions.
“What I try to teach my kids, is that life isn’t about making money or getting famous,” he told Parade in October 2006. “If you’re doing something you look forward to and it’s fun, then you’ve made it. I happen to be lucky that way. The things that I look forward to and the things that I do for a living are one and the same.”
In addition to their three kiddos, Howie and Terry are proud grandparents to grandkids Abbey and Axel, who were born to Jackelyn and her husband, Alex Shultz.
