Christopher Hitchens Net Worth | Celebrity Net Worth

What was Christopher Hitchens’s Net Worth?

Christopher Hitchens, a British-American literary critic, political journalist, orator, and the author of 18 books on faith, culture, and politics, had a net worth of $4 million. He was especially renowned for his passion for debate, his irreverence towards authority, and his outspoken criticisms of public figures. Defending his freedom of expression, he famously stated, “anyone who disagrees with this can pick a number, get in line, and kiss my ass.”

Early Years

Christopher Eric Hitchens was born on April 13, 1949, in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, to parents Eric Hitchens and Yvonne (Hickman). His parents crossed paths while his father served in the Royal Navy and his mother in the Women’s Royal Navy. In 1973, a tragic event unfolded when his mother became involved in a suicide pact with her lover, the former clergyman Timothy Bryan, resulting in their overdose in neighboring hotel rooms.

Hitchens received his education at Mount House School, a co-educational institution in Tavistock, Devon, and later attended the Lays School, a private school in Cambridge. He graduated from Balliol College, Oxford, holding a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy, politics, and economics.

Political Correspondence

In 1965, Christopher Hitchens became affiliated with the social democratic Labour Party and the far-left International Socialists. He subsequently worked as a correspondent for the British-based magazine International Socialism.

In 1971, Hitchens took on the role of a social science correspondent for the British magazine Times Higher Education Supplement, but was dismissed after six months. He then became a researcher for the British television political show “Weekend World.” By 1973, he was a correspondent at the British cultural and news magazine New Statesman, and four years later, he served as a foreign correspondent for the Daily Express. In 1978, he returned to New Statesman as assistant editor and foreign editor.

In 1981, a unique editor exchange program between New Statesman and the American publication The Nation brought him to The Nation, where he contributed until 2002. During this period, he also served as a contributing editor for Vanity Fair.

Posthumously, in 2012, Vanity Fair published a seven-part essay collection titled “Mortality,” which detailed his experiences with cancer.

Christopher Hitchens was not one to shy away from controversy; he openly critiqued figures like American author Gore Vidal, whom he labeled a “crackpot” due to his conspiracy theories about 9/11. He supported the Iraq War, held nuanced views on abortion, opposed gun control, and championed gay marriage. Self-identifying as a socialist, Marxist, and Anti-Zionist, he also claimed a bisexual orientation during his college years.

In 2007, Vanity Fair featured one of his most contentious articles, “Why Women Aren’t Funny.”

Hitchens authored substantial biographical essays on notable historical personalities such as Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, and George Orwell, in addition to critical analyses of figures like Mother Teresa, Bill Clinton, and Henry Kissinger.

He held visiting professor positions at the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Pittsburgh, and the New School for Social Research in New York.

Books

Christopher Hitchens penned 18 books, including “Hostage to History” (1984), “Blood, Class and Nostalgia; Anglo-American Ironies” (1990), “No One Left To Lie To: The Values of the Worst Family” (1999), and “A Long Short War: The Postponed Liberation of Iraq” (2003).

His 2007 work, “God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything,” critiques organized religion, which he termed violent, irrational, intolerant, and complicit with racism, countering the Muslim phrase “God is Great.” He denounced Christian evangelist Billy Graham as a “disgustingly evil man” and a “self-conscious fraud.”

In 2010, he published his memoir, “Hitch-22.”

Elements of Style

Hitchens’s argumentative style coined terms like “Hitchens Razor,” a principle asserting that claims made without evidence can be dismissed without evidence, and “Hitchslap,” a pointed remark aimed at humiliating an adversary.

Television

Throughout his career, Christopher Hitchens was featured in numerous television shows, including the British talk show “Opinions” in 1984, and appeared in 13 episodes of the American talk show “Charlie Rose” from 1996 to 2010. He also participated in six episodes of “Real Time with Bill Maher” between 2033 and 2009, four episodes of “The Daily Show” from 2004 to 2010, along with various controversial television documentaries.

Awards & Accolades

In 1991, Christopher Hitchens was honored with the Lannan Literary Award for Non-fiction. The American publication “Foreign Policy” ranked him fifth in their list of “Top 100 Public Intellectuals” in 2005.

In 2007, his columns and commentary in Vanity Fair earned him the National Magazine Award, and in 2009, Forbes named him one of the 25 most influential liberals in the American media.

In 2011, he received a National Magazine Award for his columns focused on cancer. In 2015, the Dennis and Victoria Ross Foundation established a $5,000 annual award in his honor for authors or journalists demonstrating a commitment to free expression, intellectual depth, and a dedication to truth regardless of personal or professional repercussions.

Personal Life

Christopher Hitchens married Eleni Meleagrou in 1981, with whom he had two children, Alexander and Sophia. The couple divorced in 1989. He wed American screenwriter Carol Blue in 1991, and they had a daughter, Antonia.

In 2007, Hitchens became a citizen of the United States.

During the summer of 2010, while on a promotional tour, he was hospitalized for pericardial effusion, leading to a diagnosis of esophageal cancer, following a long history of heavy smoking and drinking.

Hitchens passed away from pneumonia on December 15, 2011, at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. Reportedly, just before his death, he stirred from sleep and uttered a few indistinct words. When asked to repeat them, he responded, “Capitalism. Downfall.” As per his wish, his body was donated for medical research.