How many times have you wished to be in the place of a celebrity person whose life seems flawless? Many people do that and even ask themselves why they aren’t the ones who get to experience all the glam and glory this kind of life comes with. However, what they don’t know is that not everyone who is famous got their wealth and fame on a plate. Most of these people that we admire had to work really hard in order to get where they are today. Steve Harvey, one of our favorite comedians and TV presenters, is just one of them.

Today, Harvey seems to have it all, but it wasn’t always like that. His dad was a coal miner and couldn’t afford to give his son a lot of things while he grew up. As for Harvey himself, he worked different jobs throughout the years, including mailman, carpet cleaner and even a boxer.

Eventually, he started booking stand-up comedy gigs but would send all that money to his ex-wife for the kids, and having no money made Harvey a homeless person. “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 told PEOPLE.

Life wasn’t easy for Harvey who spent three years living in his car. He would take showers at gas stations or swimming pool facilities. However, things turned for the best for Harvey after he took part in the show “Johnnie Walker National Comedy Search” in 1990 and made it to the finals.

Soon enough, Harvey was the host of of late-night series “Showtime at the Apollo.”

Harvey got married three times. He has four kids from his two marriages, and after marrying his wife Marjorie Bridges, he adopted her children and became a father of seven. His children describe him as their role model and the best dad they could ever ask for, and recently, they got the chance to tell him just how he means to them on his show.

Jason said, “You took my mother but you gained a whole lot more with that. You gave me your last name, and that’s the unthinkable. My father, you know, he did what he could, but he wasn’t there. And you stepped in and you gave me that. If only you knew the true amount of love that I have for you… I need for you to know that now. It don’t get no better than you, Dad. You it.”