Robin Givens is a talented model and household name in Hollywood. She is also a pre-medical graduate of Sarah Lawrence College. Givens landed her breakthrough role of Darlene Merriman in the ABC sitcom Head of the Class in 1986, and remained on the series for its 5-year duration.
Contents
Robin Givens Bio:
Robin Simone Givens was born on November 27, 1964 in New York City, to Ruth (Newby) and Reuben Givens. Her father left his family when Robin was a young girl, and she seldom saw him after that.
Robin’s mother raised her and her younger sister in Westchester, Connecticut. Her mother always encouraged her children’s creativity, and helped them develop an interest in the arts.
“”Robin Givens thought that the practise of violin is not for her. She chose instead to channel her artistic energy through acting and, at the age of ten, she started acting classes at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City.
In 1980, at fifteen, Robin enrolled as a freshman at Sarah Lawrence College to study pre-med. By her junior year, however, Robin’s excitement about the idea of a career in acting intensified and she began taking her craft more seriously.
Robin’s first experience
Robin’s Givens first experience in Hollywood was on The Cosby Show (1984), the hottest show on television. As a result of the role, she and comedian Bill Cosby forged a great friendship which would prove instrumental in Robin’s career. She also landed a guest appearance on Different Strokes (1978). Her career was just about to take off.
Role in television
Robin first made it big in Hollywood in 1986. She took a role in a television movie, Beverly Hills Madam (1986), as “April Baxter“. But, it was later that year that Robin became a recognizable actress in Hollywood.
Robin Givens bio gives the information that she was given a role on the television series Head of the Class (1986) as “Darlene Merriman”. The series was a comedy about a group of gifted high school students that were placed in an enrichment class.
Childhood and early life
Robin Givens When she was two years old, her parents divorced, after which she and her sister Stephanie were raised by their mother in Mount Vernon and New Rochelle, New York. She was raised Catholic.
Their mother encouraged the two brothers in creative activities. Over time, Givens developed an interest in acting and took acting classes at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City.
Robin Givens graduated from New Rochelle Academy. He subsequently studied at Sarah Lawrence College and graduated in 1984. He also enrolled at Harvard Medical School and studied there for two years, however, he did not complete his graduation.
Robin Givens Family and personal life
Robin Givens met Mike Tyson in March 1986 and married him on February 7, 1988. The marriage hit the rocks after a miscarriage in May 1988. Givens filed for divorce in October of that year and alleged abuse conjugal.
On the other hand, Tyson claimed that she was interested in his money and not him. However, Tyson’s 1989 biography “Fire and Fear: The Inside Story of Mike Tyson” did mention that it hit Givens.
Givens and Tyson’s divorce was finalized in 1989 on Valentine’s Day. Givens denied that he received a divorce settlement amount that newspapers reported to be in excess of $ 10 million. The split with Tyson garnered its negative press, especially among the African-American community. Robin Givens is described as America’s most hated woman in one article.
Robins Givens’ second marriage to his tennis instructor, Svetozar Marinković, was also short-lived between 1997 and 1998.
Meanwhile, she adopted a son, Michael, in 1993. She also had a second son, William, in 1999 born through her ex-boyfriend, Murphy Jensen.
Robin Givens has been on the wrong side of the law multiple times. She was fined for seriously injuring an 89-year-old pedestrian, Maria Antonia Alcover, while driving her sister’s SUV in January 2004.
In June 2004, Alcover filed a civil lawsuit against the two sisters for an undisclosed amount. According to a Forbes magazine article dated May 7, 2009, the Internal Revenue Service was suing Givens for unpaid federal taxes amounting to $ 292,000, including penalties and interest.
