Van Lathan is an American media personality and former host of TMZ Live. In 2018, while hosting the show, he got into an argument with rapper Kanye West about American slavery, from 2018 to 2019. In April 2020, he hosted the podcast network The Ringer and two other podcasts The Wire: Way Down in the Hole with Jemelle Hill and Higher Learning with Rachel Lindsay. Despite being the famous host, he is also executive producer of the Oscar-winning short Two Distant Strangers (2020).
Early life
Born on April 16, 1980, Van Lathan was raised alongside his older brother Ebony Rage Lathan by his loving and caring parents named Terry and Christal Ellis. He is believed to be currently residing in Los Angeles although he has not revealed the glimpses of his life including his education details, current status of his parents and the other family members. However, it is known that Lathan’s father passed away sometime in July 2021, which he also posted an Instagram post about, paying tribute to his father. Also, in 2003, Lathan graduated from a local school and college.
Van Lathan career
Van has blossomed into a host and media personality. He previously launched his weekly podcast called The Red Pill, which has around 50,000 listeners per episode. Today he’s both a television personality and a film producer, and is also the author of his book, in which he detailed the hilarious way in which he went from fat to skinny. Despite this, he is often seen providing reviews and comments on his self journey of a major transformation of getting in shape.
Van began his career as a tour guide, working for The TMZ Tour, the segment of the adventure television documentary series Extreme, which was released in 2012. He later began hosting the live version of the TMZ news show called TMZ Live.
During his career at TMZ Live, he started another podcast called Van Lathan’s The Red Pill, which he launched on February 20, 2018 and ran through December 2019. On the podcast, he spoke about the various guests who have appeared on television including actors, actresses, entrepreneurs, media personalities and others. He used to cover various topics including news, politics, pop culture and others.
Host
Van Lathan became the host of the sports and pop culture podcast network The Ringer, which launched on April 12, 2020. At the time he was signed to Ringer, he was co-hosting two other podcasts – The Wire: Way Down in the Hole with Jemelle Hill and Higher Learning with Jemelle Hill. Lathan was also the host of The Wire: Way Down in the Hole which launched on April 15, 2020. In this podcast, he joined Hill to talk about and provide critical reviews of every episode of the HBO drama and crime series called The Wire. The podcast previously aired in December 2020-2021, airing every Monday and Wednesday or twice a week.
Lathan has worked for another famous podcast called Higher Learning which aired back in May 2020. On the podcast, Lathan and co-host Lindsay discussed the viral issues of Black culture, sports, and politics, and invited various guests to their show to discuss the debate on the issues. The podcast also aired twice a week and continues to be televised to this day. Lathan had also gone on to executive produce the Oscar-winning short film Two Distant Strangers, based on violence against a black man named Carter and racial culture.
The short film was written by Emmy Award-winning personality, writer and producer named Travon Free. It was a 32-minute short film that was previously released on November 20, 2020 and streamed online on Netflix on April 9, 2021. The short film received an Academy Award for Best Live-Action Short Film in 2021 and an African-American Film Critics Association Award for Best Short Film in the same year.
Van Lathan biography | |
|---|---|
| Real name | Van Lathan Jr. |
| Date of birth | April 16, 1980 |
| Age (as of 2022) | 42 years |
| Place of birth | Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA |
| nationality | American |
| profession | producer |
| religion | Christianity |
| sun sign | Aries |
Physical Statistics | |
| Height | in feet inches – 6′ 4” – in centimeters – 193cm |
| Weight | in kilograms – 90kg – in pounds – 198 pounds |
| shoe size | 14 (USA) |
| hair colour | Black |
| eye color | Black |
| body type | Athletic |
Van Lathan Family | |
| Father | Terry Lathan |
| mother | Christal Ellis |
| sister | Ebony Rage Lathan |
| Brothers | – |
Qualification/Education | |
| school | – |
| University | – |
Relationship status | |
| Marital status | In a relationship |
| affair | Yes |
| Who is Van Lathan’s girlfriend/wife? | none |
Personal life
Van Lathan hasn’t revealed much about his life’s insights, revealing that he’s engaged to someone named Khalika. He lives a happy and peaceful life in Los Angeles with another family member, a dog named Boseman. Van also said the same thing in his book “Fat, Crazy and Tired…”. Appearing on The Breakfast Club podcast in 2018, he, along with his only friend and the show’s host Charlamagne, shared a story of a vacation to Anguilla with their partners. Charlemagne revealed that he was on vacation with his wife while Lathan was present with his fiancé. But Lathan himself has never revealed his marital status.
Van Lathan net worth
He certainly makes a lot of money from his involvement in many shows and podcasts including The TMZ Tour, The Ringer, Higher Learning, The Red Pill and being executive producer of the short film Two Distant Strangers. Lathan’s estimated net worth is around $3-4 million, which is enough to allow him to live a luxurious lifestyle.