Bernie Mac Wife, Kids, Family, Height, How Did He Die?

Quick Facts

Comedy is one branch of the entertainment industry that is pretty difficult to thrive in. It is not just that easy to make people laugh especially when you stick to your own style of the trade. Bernie Mac is one African-American comedian who was insistent in doing his own style of comedy despite not gaining momentum in his comedy career in the 80’s. However, he later went on to achieve fame in this line of trade and for that reason, we will be giving you all there is to know about his family, height and how he died.

Background Information on Bernie Mac

Bernard Jeffrey McCullough was better known by his stage name Bernie Mac. He was born on the 5th of October 1957 in Chicago, Illinois as the second born to Mary McCullough and Jeffery Harrison. He was raised by his mother as a single parent and later his grandparents as his father who was said never got officially married to his mother left them when he was still a young boy.

Growing up was tough for young Bernie but that didn’t mean he didn’t get some education. The African-American comedian attended Chicago Vocational High School before he moved to Tampa, Florida in the year 1973 where he continued his high school education at Jesuit High School after the loss of his mother to cancer during his second year of study. He still returned to Chicago and graduated in 1975 from Chicago Vocational High School.

To make ends meet, he took up odd jobs like being a janitor, a cook, and later a bus driver, a delivery man for Sears, a coach, a UPS agent, and furniture mover all at various times from his 20’s to his early 30’s. He also worked in the Regal theatre in addition to performing in several parks before making a career out of comedy in Chicago’s Cotton Club. His comedy influencers were Richard Pryor and Redd Foxx while his jokes were largely drawn from the difficulties he faced growing up in his family.

He won his first comedy contest at the age of 32 and this helped to put water on the grounds for bigger achievements in this line of profession for him. He launched himself as an actor in 1994 with a role on House Party 3, and later had a talk show on HBO titled Midnight Mac. The character, Pastor Clever in Friday of 1995 was his big break in the movie industry and then came other roles for him.

Before his death, he starred in a lot of films as no two years passed without him being on a film and television project. At this same time, his comedy talent didn’t suffer a dearth of attention as most of his films and movie roles were all comic.

Bernie Mac’s career didn’t end without some recognition. His last award was the 2005 Black Reel Awards which he won as the Best Actor, Musical or Comedy for his role in Mr. 3000.

Family – Wife, kids

Bernie met his wife Rhonda Gore in his high school days when he was very popular with women. They tied the knot between them as husband and wife when the comedian was as young as 19. Following Bernie’s death which was a tough blow on Rhonda, she has not failed to express how much she loved him and how he was such a loving and caring husband. Rhonda remarried three years after (2011) his death until she met and got remarried to Horce Gilmore.

Bernie and Rhonda had a daughter in 1978 named Ja’Niece now Ja’Niece Childress.

Ja’Niece got married in the year 2002 to Childress III and now has a daughter named Jasmine Childress. Sadly, her marriage ended in a divorce.

Height

His name alone creates the mental image of a tall figure not to mention seeing him in real life when he lived. Bernie stood at 6 feet 3 inches which is equivalent to 1.88m. Some other online sources give figures that are in a variant of this, but whatever was his actual height, there is no argument that he was certainly a tall man with a lot of career successes to show for it.

How did he Die?

Bernie Mac is no more, but his memories still live in our heart. He fell to the cold hands of death on the 9th of August in 2008.

Three years before his death, he disclosed publicly that he was suffering from sarcoidosis: a disease that causes inflammation in body tissue and he frequently had attacks in his lungs. He got admitted to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in his hometown of Chicago, Illinois in 2008 for medical treatments.

He survived through a week of unsuccessful medical treatment before going into cardiac arrest. Bernie was on a ventilator and fed with a tube inserted into him. In the early hours of the 9th of August when he was about to have his feeding tube inserted, his heart stopped beating and the doctor’s rushed in to resuscitate him.

Rhonda recalled that when she was allowed to come in and see him, his whole body was shaking with his eyes wide open without him looking at anybody in particular. She pleaded with him not to die that she would take care of him but her pleas fell on deaf ears as her beloved Bernie Mac had already set course for the path of no return.

Bernie gave up the ghost around 2 o’clock in the morning at the age of 50.

Also Read: Top 10 Richest People in the world with full biography and details.