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Amid Vicki Gunvalson’s speculation that Heather Dubrow and her husband, Dr. Terry Dubrow, inherited money, Terry addressed how he got rich. The Real Housewives of Orange County star denied that he came from money growing up, and he revealed the largest amount of money he’s made in a single year.
In the new season, Vicki said she heard that Terry inherited a lot of his money after the passing of his family members. While she admitted that Terry was a successful plastic surgeon, she hinted that doctors don’t typically live in $50 million houses.
In an interview for The School of Hard Knockz, Terry was asked how he got rich.
“I’m a plastic surgeon … [for] 29 years,” he said. When asked what the most amount of money he’s made in a single year was, Terry answered, “There might be a 2-0 in front of it.”
“You said 20 million?” asked the interviewer.
“Maybe,” Terry answered.
Later on, Terry denied that he came from money growing up. “I had a paper route when I was 10, 11, and 12, and then I worked at Colonel Sanders Kentucky Fried Chicken.”
He was then asked how he became one of the richest plastic surgeons in the world.
“My mentor, one of the greatest plastic surgeons ever to exist, said, ‘Don’t kid yourself. You’re nothing special. Work really hard. Shut up and be honest,” Terry recalled.
“By the way, the other key to wealth: marry well, don’t get divorced,” he said. “I have the greatest wife ever. … The best reason not to get divorced is because, you know, your wife is going to be richer than you are when it’s over. Everything I have, my wife has.”
He said the greatest lesson he’s learned about entrepreneurship, which doctors aren’t taught in medical school, is to “pay your future self first.”
“I didn’t make it till I was 33; I didn’t start making any money [till then]. But I still didn’t buy the fancy cars. I waited,” he said. “Be kind to your future self.”
New episodes of The Real Housewives of Orange County air Thursday nights on Bravo.