50 Things You Didn't Know about Chelsea Handler: Sex Tape Scandal, How She Rose to Fame

With her late-night talk show, Chelsea Lately, Chelsea Handler became one of the most-watched women in comedy.

1. Chelsea Joy Handler was born in Livingston, New Jersey on February 25, 1975.

2. She is the youngest of six siblings.

3. Her mother is Mormon and her father is Jewish. She was raised Jewish.

4. Chelsea competed in the Miss New Jersey pageant as a teen.

5. At the age of 19, she moves from New Jersey to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting.

6. She stumbled into stand-up comedy. She told the story of how she got a DUI at the age of 21 to her class and was encouraged by her peers to pursue comedy.

7. Her big break came after she made a video of herself talking about her experiences as a waitress, sent it to L.A.'s Improv comedy club and was invited to perform there.

8. She was a waitress until she hit it big when she was 26.

9. In 2002, the hidden camera show Girls Behaving Badly invited Chelsea to audition for the show. She landed a role as a regular and her pranks were absolutely hilarious.

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10. She went to make guest appearances on such shows as My Wife and Kids, The Practice and The Bernie Mac Show.

11. Chelsea hosted the first episode of the reality TV show On the Lot, but quit before the second episode aired, saying later, "Because I smelled the disaster happening before it did." The show, produced by Steven Spielberg and Mark Burnett, is a competition for aspiring filmmakers who are vying for a chance at stardom.

12. In 2006, E! began airing The Chelsea Handler Show as part of its late-night lineup. The show was a combination of stand-up and sketch comedy (modeled after the success of Chappelle's Show on Comedy Central). It aired for 12 episodes before being canceled.

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13. In 2006, Handler began dating Ted Harbert, who oversaw E! as the former CEO of Comcast Entertainment Group.On January 25, 2010, Handler confirmed, via her late-night talk show, that she had broken up with Harbert.

14. Chelsea's net worth is $35 million.

15. In 2007, Handler performed with Comedy Central's Hour Stand-Up Comedy Tour across the United States. Her stand-up comedy has also been televised on VH1's Love Lounge, Comedy Central's Premium Blend, and HBO's broadcast of the Aspen Comedy Festival.

16. Chelsea Lately was born out of The Chelsea Handler Show. Once that show was cancelled, Handler was approached to do a late night talk show in 2007. It has become one of the highest-rated shows on the network and one of the most popular late-night talk shows on television.

17. She starred on the web series In the Motherhood from 2007 to 2008, but did not join the cast of the short-lived network sitcom of the same name.

18. In 2009, Handler served as Grand Marshal for the LGBT Pride festival in Hollywood.

19. Handler was given the "A-List Funny" award by Bravo TV in 2009.

20. On January 25, 2009, Handler was on the CBS gameshow Million Dollar Password as one of the celebrity players.

21. She appeared on one of the two covers for the December 2009 edition of Playboy. Inside the magazine, Handler posed for a non-nude pictorial.

22. She has her own columns in Cosmopolitan and NOW, a UK celebrity magazine.

23. She became the second woman in history to host the Video Music Awards on MTV in 2010.

24. In 2010, a sex tape of Handler was reportedly being offered for sale. This tape was a copy of Handler's audition tape from the 1990s. Handler has stated she added the sex scenes to her audition tape to appear as if she had accidentally taped over her homemade sex tape, and has been showing the tape at parties "for years."

25. Chelsea took part in the "I AM EQUAL" Photo Documentary project 2010 in memory of her mother, Rita, who died from complications of cancer. Along with her photo being added to the documentary and accompanying photo mosaic, she also shared a "Photo Story" with a message that inspires people to take chances in life

26. Chelsea create a scripted series based on the cast of her late-night talk show called After Lately (2011) which has also been successful.

27. Guest stars of the mockumentary include: Reese Witherspoon (in seasons one and two), Jennifer Aniston, Jay Leno, Tori Spelling, Jenny McCarthy, Sharon Osbourne, Dave Grohl, Johnny Knoxville, and Jane Fonda.

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28. Chelsea was on the list of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in 2012.

29. She had a "casual relationship" with rapper 50 Cent. The couple ended their relationship after he acted like an "eighth grader" before his ex-girlfriend, Ciara's, scheduled appearance on Chandler's show. (Read her comments here.)

30. Handler has authored four books on the New York Times Best Seller List, three of which have been number one. Her first book, My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands (2005), describes the variety of sexual encounters she went through throughout her life.

31. Handler also wrote Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea (2008), a collection of humorous essays that hit the New York Times Nonfiction Best Seller List on May 11, 2008, She went on a nationwide tour to promote her third book, titled Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang, which was released on March 9, 2010.

32. In 2011, she was named Glamour magazine's "Woman of the Year."

33. In 2012, NBC launched her new sitcom titled Are You There, Chelsea? starring Chelsea and Laura Prepon which was based on Handler's 2008 best-selling book Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea, The title is a take on Judy Blume's Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.

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34. Although the title is derived from Handler's second book, the series featured moments from her other books as well.

35. The show only ran for one season and was cancelled in May 2012 after 12 episodes.

36. She began dating hotelier André Balazs in 2012 and the couple have been on-off.

37. As of October 2013, Chelsea confirmed on her show that they had broken up.

38. Chelsea is not interested in getting married. "I don't know if I even want to get married," Handler once told The New York Times. "But if I do ever meet someone I like, they're going to know everything. They'll never be able to come back a couple years down the road and say I lied."

39. She's a bit of a control freak. Working with her team, Handler requires signoff on all details involving her projects.

40. She is a very loyal friend and would never talk bad about any of them. "I've never talked about...anyone I've become friends with. I'm not going to be friends with them if they're idiots in the first place," she told The Hollywood Reporter.

41. She always supports the underdog. While talking about her "Chelsea Lately" team, Handler told Hamptons: "I like people that don't belong on television...I like saying 'Screw you' to everybody that thinks there is one way to do television. I think it's hilarious to put people that are not attractive on TV. I surround myself with people that I find really funny and really kind of stupid. So if I get joy out of it, I have to assume other people are getting joy out of it."

42. She is very generous to both her friends and employees. According to comedian Heather McDonald, Handler's pal and co-worker, the talk show host "set up a scholarship fund for each of my kids and does the same for anyone on staff who has a baby. Yet she never went to college herself. She's a really sensitive person."

43. She's co-creating a non-profit organization for young women."I'm working on starting this foundation for young girls with my sisters to try to help underdogs get a light shone on them," she once told More. "I think that's really important when you're growing up, to have somebody remind you that you are special, that you have a gift."

44. Chelsea is growing tired of discuss gossip news on her show. "I can't keep doing the same thing; my brain is bleeding. I want to do something that's more mindful and isn't celebrity-centered. I'm not looking to totally bail on E! They've done a lot for me, and I like it here." Beat. "If you take away the Kardashians. I want to educate people and deliver news that isn't just surrounded by Charlie Sheen. I'd like to be able to do the serious stuff in conjunction with the comedy. I'd like to make an impact and have more responsibility than I do now."

45. She doesn't drink as much as she did before. "I don't drink as much as I should --or as much as people think I do. Mondays through Wednesdays I try to take it easy, and then on the weekends I do whatever I want," she once explained. "It's more for diet than the actual drinking thing. You can't drink like that and expect to be in at least somewhat decent shape. I mean, I love to go out and drink and have fun with my friends. But I'm not a mess."

46. She likes to poke fun at Ryan Seacrest but says she respects him a lot. . "Ryan and I have a very jocular relationship," she says. "I love Ryan. He's the hardest-working person I know. ... I have a lot of respect for him. But I'm not the new Ryan Seacrest. I'm funny; Ryan's not that funny. He's funny-looking."

47. Chelsea feels that she has finally made it in life! "When you're little and growing up and you're bullied, all you want to do is be like, 'You don't know I'm going to be something, and you're just going to be a housewife who doesn't work with twins that you hate. So shut up!' I used to get tortured all the time by the older girls and they'd tell me I was ugly and fat. This is the greatest comeuppance of all."

48. She is good friends with Jennifer Aniston and has poked fun many times at Angelina Jolie in defense of her friend.

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49. She is not the "marrying kind." "Now I'm just like, the person that's not getting married so I like it and I think it's a good example to not have that be part of your identity," she said in an interview with Gwyneth Paltrow. "The truth of the matter is, I don't really know how to balance a relationship and my life. I've never been able to really do that."

50. She know's how to speak her mind. "We're seeking out such grossness in human behavior and want such mindless entertainment. 'The Real Housewives of Atlanta' and some of these other shows are more racist. Or '16 and Pregnant.' Getting rewarded for being pregnant when you're a teenager? Are you serious? I mean, that makes me want to kill somebody." She continued: "I had an abortion when I was 16. Because that's what I should have done. Otherwise I would now have a 20-year-old kid. Anyway, those are things that people shouldn't be dishonest about it."

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