the pursuit of happyness by chris gardner

ĭespite both her very unhappy marriage and her periods of absence, Bettye Jean was a positive source of inspiration and strength to her son Chris. The children learned that their mother had been imprisoned when she arrived at Henry's funeral escorted by a prison guard. However, Henry drowned in the Mississippi River when Chris was nine years old. Of the three, Henry had the most profound influence on him, entering Gardner's world at a time when he most needed a positive father figure. While in foster care, Gardner first became acquainted with his three maternal uncles: Archibald, Willie, and Henry. When Gardner was eight years old, he and his sisters returned to foster care for the second time when their mother, unbeknownst to them, was convicted of trying to kill Triplett by burning down the house while he was inside. In one incident, Bettye Jean was imprisoned when Triplett falsely reported her to the authorities for welfare fraud the children were placed in foster care. Triplett's fits of rage made both Gardner and his sisters constantly afraid. Gardner did not have many positive male role models as a child, as his father was living in Louisiana during his birth, and his stepfather was physically abusive to both his mother and his sisters. His younger sisters, Sharon and Kimberly, are children from his mother's marriage to Freddie Triplett. His older half-sister, Ophelia, is from a previous union.

He was the second child and the only boy born to Bettye Jean. Gardner was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on February 9, 1954, to Thomas Turner and Bettye Jean Gardner. That book was made into the motion picture The Pursuit of Happyness starring Will Smith.

In 2006, Gardner sold his minority stake in the firm and published a memoir. He became a stockbroker and eventually founded his own brokerage firm Gardner Rich & Co in 1987. During the early 1980s, Gardner struggled with homelessness while raising a toddler son. Christopher Paul Gardner (born February 9, 1954) is an American businessman and motivational speaker.

The pursuit of happyness by chris gardner