Comedian and TV presenter Steve Harvey has a true story of rags to riches, and one that many people don’t even know about. Born in West Virginia to a coal miner, Steve Harvey didn’t have a lot growing up.

When he did set out to forge a career he had to fund his dream with a string of jobs including being a mailman, carpet cleaner and even a boxer. After his divorce from his first wife, he was sending his pay checks from his standup comedy gigs home to his kids, leaving him with hardly any money. As a difficult consequence, he found himself homeless. “One or two gigs fell through, and suddenly I was homeless…I had nowhere to go…It was so disheartening… A week is really the maximum you can do. This was three years!” the comedian once explained to PEOPLE