Montel Williams is an Emmy Award-winning talk-show host, a decorated former naval intelligence officer, an entrepreneur, motivational speaker, and philanthropist.
He is the author the New York Times bestselling inspirational memoirs Climbing Higher and Mountain, Get Out of My Way, and the coauthor of the New York Times bestseller Bodychange.
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Montel also continues to have a very successful television career. For the past 17 years he has hosted The Montel Williams Show, a daily, one-hour, nationally syndicated talk show that provides an engaging forum for provocative and meaningful discussions about family, communication, and personal and social responsibility. In addition to receiving the 1996 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show host, Montel's program was also nominated for Outstanding Talk Show in 2001, and Outstanding Talk Show Host in 2002.
Montel's unique place in the television landscape has made him a welcome prescence beyond the studio. Last December, Williams traveled to the Middle East to see first-hand how the troops were coping during the holiday season. Just after the Virginia Tech shooting, he interviewed a former high-school classmate of Cho Seung Hui. He has also conducted interviews in federal prisons, at the scene of Ground Zero after 9/11, and throughout the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina.
Prior to hosting his own television show, Montel was a special-duty intelligence officer in the navy, specializing in cryptology. A graduate of the Naval Academy, he received a number of military awards and citations during his naval career. Before attending the Academy, he enlisted in the Marine Corps after graduating from a Baltimore, Maryland-area high school.
One of Montel's key beliefs is that "success is determined by what you give back to others," which is why he has worked actively with a variety of charitable organizations throughout the years.
In 1999, Montel announced his diagnosis with MS, a potentially debilitating autoimmune disease that affects the brain and spinal cord. To raise both awareness and funds for MS research, he created the Montel Williams MS Foundation.
In 2006 Montel became National Spokesperson for the Partnership for Prescription Assistance, a major industry campaign to extend prescription drug help to all Americans.
Montel has four children, ages 12 through 23, and resides in New York City. He is an avid snowboarder, who finds the sport challenging and theraputic, relieving some of the neuralgic pain in his legs. He married Tara Fowler in October 2007.
Photograph of Montel Williams © CBS Studios Inc.