John Donald Imus, Jr. (born July 23, 1940) is an American radio host, humorist, writer, and philanthropist. His nationally-syndicated talk show, Imus in the Morning, airs throughout the United States on ABC Radio Networks and is simulcast on RFD-TV.
Imus was born in Riverside, California, but he was raised on a sprawling cattle ranch called The Willows near Kingman, Arizona. He served in the Marine Corps from 1957 to 1960.
Imus battled alcoholism during his early career in New York, but in 1987 finally pursued effective treatment. (As of 2008, he has remained sober for 20 years). In 1988, with his cocaine and alcohol addictions now legendary in show business, Imus reshaped his show from strictly comedy into a forum for political issues, charitable causes and news-based parodies.
In 1979, he divorced his first wife, Harriet. He married his second wife, Deirdre Coleman on December 17, 1994. He has four step-daughters that he adopted from his first marriage and one son, Frederick Wyatt (nicknamed Wyatt, born July 3, 1998), from his current marriage. Both Don and Deirdre Imus are vegetarians.
In 1999, Imus and his wife founded the Imus Ranch, a working cattle ranch near Ribera, New Mexico, 50 miles southeast of Santa Fe. The Imus Ranch is a charitable organization for children with cancer, as well as siblings of SIDS victims. Between Memorial Day and Labor Day each year, the Imus family volunteers their time at the Imus ranch. Imus continues his broadcasts from a studio there, while the rest of his cast broadcast from New York. In 2000, Imus suffered serious injuries after a fall from a horse at his ranch, and broadcast several shows from a hospital.
Imus maintains three residences; an apartment in Manhattan, a cottage in Westport, Connecticut, and he lives at the Imus Ranch in Ribera, New Mexico when he is volunteering his time.
In March of 2009, Imus announced on his radio show that he has been diagnosed with stage two prostate cancer.
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