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C hris Gardner is worth hundreds of millions of dollars. He enjoys his wealth; he’s bought—and sold—a Ferrari (Michael Jordan’s, in case you’re interested) and traded it in for a Bentley; dropped thousands on designer clothes and exquisite jewelry without blinking an eye; been courted by the Hollywood elite; jet-setted around the world; met his hero, Nelson Mandela.
This is a glamorous lifestyle for the most privileged among us, but for someone who was homeless just 20 years ago, it’s nothing short of amazing. To top it off, Hollywood made him a deal he couldn’t refuse. His life story has been turned into a movie starring Will Smith set for release in December 2006 (The Pursuit of Happyness).
Today, Gardner is a self-made millionaire with the ability to share his wealth however he wishes. His company, Gardner Rich & Co., a brokerage firm based in Chicago, gives a considerable amount of its earnings to charitable organizations, particularly educational ones. Most significantly, Gardner is close to finalizing a venture in South Africa that will pump millions of dollars and thousands of jobs into that economy. The chance to help people better themselves by using his years of experience is special to him. Gardner says “next to raising my children, this is the most important thing I'll ever have a chance to do in my life."
Gardner’s childhood in Milwaukee was one of sadness and fear, with a father he never knew, a beloved mother who spent much of his childhood in jail, and a stepfather more abusive than most can imagine, including threatening Gardner with a gun. And life didn’t get much easier as he got older.
Gardner was living in San Francisco with his girlfriend, Jackie, and infant son, Chris Jr., trying to make ends meet working a sales job when he saw a man in a red Ferrari and thought, “He’s doing something right.” Not shy, Gardner asked him “what he did and how he did it. My mother always told me, ‘The cavalry ain’t comin’. You got to do it yourself so you better learn to take care of your own problems.’” The next day, he started knocking on doors, hoping to impress someone enough to give him a shot, and he didn’t stop knocking until someone offered him a job.
Gardner showed up for his first day of work only to find out that the man who hired him had been fired. Undaunted, Gardner landed an interview at Dean Witter. But problems at home got in the way this time. After a particularly nasty argument between Jackie and him that brought the police to their door, Gardner was taken to jail for several days, not for the argument but for unpaid parking tickets. He was released the day before his Dean Witter interview. But when he got home, no one was there and the place had been stripped bare. Most upsetting, his son was gone.
Jackie left no indication of where she went, if she would be back, or how he could find Chris Jr. Masking his pain and disbelief, Gardner went to his Dean Witter interview, albeit in his only outfit left, jeans and paint-splattered sneakers, since Jackie had taken or disposed of everything he owned. Knowing that the truth was better than any story he could invent, Gardner told the truth—and got the job.
One day, Jackie returned unannounced, but not to reunite their family; she couldn’t handle the stress of being a single parent and handed Chris Jr. over to Gardner. Gardner was now a single parent, and suddenly homeless, because the place in which he was staying did not allow children.
On his stockbroker trainee salary, he didn’t make enough money to save security deposits and rent, and most shelters took only women or mothers and children; fathers and children need not apply. Still, Gardner made sure he and his son had somewhere to sleep every night, whether it was a San Francisco BART station or in his office. Later, he came across Reverend Cecil Williams, who gave Gardner and his son a place to live and became one of his lifelong mentors.
It took years of hard work, but Gardner’s determination paid off: in 1987, he realized his dream of running his own business. But of all the accolades he has received and all of the professional success he has obtained, Gardner is proudest of his work as a father to his children.
Gardner’s relationship with his children is the focus of The Pursuit of Happyness. Gardner was heavily involved in most parts of the movie-making process, from helping write the script to acting as a consultant on set. He and Smith forged a close relationship—“Will Smith plays Chris Gardner better than I play Chris Gardner,” he jokes—and one of the main reasons was because they both see parenting as their primary job. “The best part of meeting Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith was watching them be first and foremost parents every day,” Gardner says.
To Gardner, the most important part of the film is the love story; but this isn’t your typical Hollywood love story. Here it’s the love between a father and his child. “I gave my son a sense of normalcy,” Gardner says. “People ask me, ‘How could you make being homeless normal?’” He has a simple answer: “Because to us normal was being together every day. As long as I knew that my son knew I would be there for him every day, I was sure we’d be okay.”
Sure, Gardner seems to have it all. And he does.
M.C. Roach has written several pieces for RL Magazine as well as for home decorating and remodeling publications.
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