Steve-O - Early Life

Early Life

Steve-O was born in London, England. His mother, Donna Gay (née Wauthier), was Canadian, and his father, Richard Glover, was American. His paternal grandfather was English and his maternal step-grandfather was voice-over announcer Wayne Howell. His family was based in England for many years due to his father's presidency of the South American division of Pepsi-Cola. During his childhood he lived in a number of countries, including Canada, Brazil, Venezuela, and Uganda, where he spent two years before moving to the United States.

His first hometown in the United States was Darien, Connecticut, at the age of four. He moved to Miami two years later. When he was nine his family returned to London where Steve-O attended the American School in London in St. John's Wood for four years of school. As a child, he was an avid Mötley Crüe fan. In 1987, Motley was playing at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Ontario, Canada where his family was living in at the time. He phoned every hotel within and outside the vicinity until he found the name that the band usually checked in under, manager Doc McGhee. He did not speak to Doc, but rather his brother Scott, but McGhee was so impressed with the resolve of Steve O to meet Motley that he brought him out for their show, let him meet them, and hang with them backstage, as told in Tommy Lee's autobiography.

He attended the University of Miami but dropped out after one year due to poor grades and acts of disobedience in school. He then attended and graduated from the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College in 1997. After graduation he was not selected to join the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, but worked as a clown in a circus at the Fort Lauderdale Swap Shop flea market. He filmed his stunts, including his clown performances, throughout this period.