Lydia Hearst – How rich is Chris Hardwick’s wife? Pregnant?

Lydia Hearst is an American actress, model, and lifestyle influencer, who rose to prominence through being an heiress, the daughter of Patty Hearst, the great-granddaughter of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst. She’s also the wife of entertainer Chris Hardwick, whose best known work is hosting the popular live after-show, “Talking Dead,” at AMC.

Early Life and Family

Lydia Marie Hearst-Shaw was born on 19 September 1984, in New Haven, Connecticut of American-Scottish-Irish descent, to Patricia Campbell Hearst and Bernard Lee Shaw. Her mother is the granddaughter of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, and gained public interest due to her kidnapping in 1974 by the American terrorists the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA). She was rescued after 19 months, but was treated as a fugitive when a video came out that she’d helped the SLA group by holding a gun while robbing a bank.

After the investigation and court hearing, she was sentenced to 35 years in prison, but it was reduced to seven years and she was later pardoned by President Bill Clinton. Her father was a former police officer, who later became her mother’s bodyguard. She has one sister, Gillian Heart-Shaw.

Education

She went to The Lawrenceville School in Mercer County, New Jersey, a college preparatory co-education boarding school for grade 9 to 12 students. However, during her junior year, she found it stifling and decided to transfer to Wilton High School, from where she matriculated. She enrolled into Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut to pursue a degree in Communications and Technology, but eventually dropped out of her freshman year in 2003, after being discovered by professional fashion photographer Steven Meisel.

Career

As a fashion model and endorser

She started her professional modeling career in April of 2004 by landing on the cover of Italian Vogue magazine, which in her own words, “… is the equivalent essentially of winning an Academy Award. So, there was nowhere else to go from there.” She was very lucky unlike other rookie models who struggled to get their name on the priority list of fashion magazines and designers.

After that first magazine cover, Lydia’s face became a popular fixture in numerous elite fashion local and international magazines, the most notable being Vogue, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, and Marie Claire.

After just a few years in the business, she was recognized as the 2007 “Model of the Year” by Michael Awards in New York City, the fashion awards version of the Oscar’s. She was also given the “Best International Supermodel Award” in 2008, by Conde Nast Spanish Glamour Awards in Madrid.

Updates about her personal life, career, and advocacies have featured many times in other top publications, such as Cosmopolitan, Glamour, InStyle, and Esquire.

Over the years, she was photographed by the highest paid professional photographers, including Steven Meisel, Mario Testino, Ellen Von Unwerth, and Patrick Demarcheller. Up to this day, she continues to work in front of the master lenses of Peter Lindberg, Inez van Lamsweerde, and Vinoodh Matadin, as she appeareded on the catwalk of fashion houses Chanel, Fendi, Jeremy Scott, and Catherine Malandrino.

Lydia also became a regular face in advertising campaigns of some of the most luxurious fashion brands, including Louis Vuitton, Prada, Alexander McQueen, and Bottega Veneta. She also became a part of promotional ads for beauty and cosmetics giants, such as NARS and MAC Cosmetics.

After being included in the 2007 Puma’s French 77 promo ad, the sportswear company asked her to design her own handbag line for its Puma collection. In 2014, she was chosen to be a supermodel coach along with Naomi Campbell and Anne Vyalitsyna in the second season of “The Face,” a modeling competition reality-TV show aired on the Oxygen network channel.

As a columnist and lifestyle influencer

Lydia has written for the Sunday edition of the New York Post, and had a weekly column on Page-Six magazine for a short while. After enjoying writing, in 2013 she launched her own lifestyle blog entitled, “Love Lydia Hearst”. She was actively blogging until December of 2016 about various topics, including but not limited to beauty myths, recipes, trends and horoscopes.

As an actress

Accompanying her mother, Patty, on the set of John Water’s films had inspired Lydia to become an actress.

In 2009, she made a guest appearance in an episode of the popular teen television series, “Gossip Girl,” with Blake Lively, and this led to a series of TV guest appearances in “Mistresses” with Alyssa Milano on the ABC in 2013; “South of Hell,” a supernatural horror series wherein she played a role in seven episodes with Mena Suvari; and “Z Nation,” a zombie apocalypse series wherein she was in the regular cast fo its fifth season in 2018.

In between filming of TV series, she had also taken roles on the big screen such as in “Two Jacks” in 2012 with Sienna Miller and Danny Huston, “Cabin Fever: Patient Zero” with Ryan Donowho and Jillian Murray, and the “Haunting of Sharon Tate,” a thriller movie released in 2019 in which she played the heiress Abigal Folger, who was among those murdered by the Charles Manson family in 1969.

Currently, Lydia is involved in three movies – “Downside of Bliss,” “Grace and Grit,” and “Roof Letter” – which are in post-production as of 2020.

Personal Life

Lydia married Chris Hardwick on 20 August 2016, at Langham, Huntington Hotel in Pasadena, California witnessed by 450 guests, and officiated by Jaime King and Rev. Edward Dumke, who was also the wedding officiant of her parents’ wedding.

Lydia and Chris met briefly in 2013, but they were both in a relationship so nothing happened. They met again after nine months when they were both single, and dated for a couple of years until Chris proposed on 12 September 2015. Their mutual love for anything sci-fi and horror helped in bringing them closer together, as evident on the theme of their wedding – the invitation, decor, cake, and souvenirs were all slightly inspired by “Dr. Who” and “The Walking Dead”, along with some of their favorite science fiction and horror comic book series.

In 2018, their marriage was tested as Chris was accused of sexual and emotional abuse by his ex-girlfriend Chloe Dykstra, an actress and model, in a self-written essay pub in the online publishing platform Medium. She wrote that when she ended the relationship, she underwent a career blacklisting process initiated by Chris. Although his name wasn’t mentioned in the essay, fans were able to figure out who the alleged abuser was, and as a result, the Nerdist Industries removed his name from all mentions on their site and projects. AMC network also suspended episodes of the “Talking Dead.” Chris decided to stop all his participation in all the projects that he was involved in during that time, pending investigations.

He denied all the accusations and was open to all the investigations needed to clear his name.

TMZ, a celebrity tabloid website, released a series of text messages between Chris and Chloe discussing their breakup wherein she asked him to reconsider; apparently it was Chris who ended the relationship citing unfaithfulness. In the end, Chloe didn’t want to participate in any investigation because she doesn’t believe in the concept of ‘an eye for an eye’, and the essay that she made public was done because she said it was what she needed for closure. Investigation cleared Chris’ name, and he was reinstated to all of his hosting jobs.

All through the investigation, Lydia was very supportive of her husband, and released a statement in defense of Chris. The couple doesn’t have a child, but are planning to have children.

Who is Chris Hardwick?

Christopher Ryan Hardwick of Italian-American descent, was born on 23 November 1971, in Louisville, Kentucky USA, to Billy Hardwick, a pro-bowler, and Sharon Facente Hills, a real estate agent.

His maternal grandfather was an Italian-American owner of a bowling alley, where Chris’ parents met. The family moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where he was raised. He went to several schools such as St. Benedict at Auburndale High School, Regis Jesuit School in Colorado, and finally matriculated from Loyola High School in Los Angeles.  He graduated in 1993 with a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

His career started in the entertainment industry after graduation, as a DJ at KROQ-FM, a Los Angeles radio station. He was then part of the TV comedy sitcom, “Guys Like Us” for 12 episodes in 1999. Chris was a fan of sci-fi-horror thrillers, and took minor roles in movies of that genre such as “Halloween II,” “House of 1000 Corpses,” “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,” and “The Mother of Invention.”

Posted by Chris Hardwick on Friday, 26 April 2019

A series of TV guest appearances followed in “Zoey 101,” “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” and “Boy Meets World”, and he also became a voice actor in several animated series, such as “Back at the Barnyard,” “The Batman,” “Legend of Korra,” and the “Borderlands” franchise series.

In 2007, he began contributing as a writer to shows such as “Wired,” “Web Soup,” and “Back at the Barnyard.” Chris started a blog, Nerdist.com, and then later his podcast was also launched. In 2011, he partnered with Meltdown Comics and Geek Chic Daily to establish Nerdist Industries, providing entertainment in the sci-fi and horror genres at the Nerdist Theater at Meltdown in Los Angeles. In 2012, Nerdist Industries was bought by Legendary Entertainment, but Chris remained as the company’s co-president until 2018, when he decided to leave the company.

Tune in for another episode of @hardwick‘s podcast, #ID10T with special guest, @JordanPeele!

7pm tonight!: https://t.co/pska8Jov2O pic.twitter.com/3HEPTlhzL0

— 107.7 The End (@1077TheEnd) May 13, 2018

His hosting career started when he was asked to be a guest commentator on “VH1’s I Love the ’90s.” Then in 1993 he hosted “Trashed,” a game show on MTV, after which he was hired to host “Singled Out” with Jenny McCarthy from 1995 until 1998. In 2007, he was the host of “Web Soup”, and in 2011 he did the intros and outros for BBC America’s TV show, “Ministry of Laughs.” When “The Walking Dead,” became so popular in 2011, AMC network decided to create a companion-interactive show with a live audience, entitled “The Talking Dead,” and chose Chris to host it. He also did the same thing for the spin-off, “Fear the Walking Dead.”

Interesting Facts

• Lydia is active with her social media apps accounts: Twitter @LydiaHearst and Instagram @lydiahearst
• She idolizes her great-grandfather, William Randolph Hearst, and said in an interview, ‘If there was anyone that I would want to meet or anyone that I could ever be—that would be him.’
• She controversially claimed in an interview that she is different from other socialites, saying that she is not a Hilton but a Hearst.

Appearance

She is 5ft 7ins (1.74m) tall, weighs around 110lbs (50kgs), and her vital statistics are 32-23-33. She is Caucasian with dark brown hair and green eyes.

Net worth

Authoritative sources estimate her net worth to be around $120 million as of April 2020. Apart from being one of the heiresses to the Hearst empire, she’s earned a lot as a top model, actress, and endorser since 2003. Her husband has a reputed net worth of over $20 million.