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Steve Harvey: ‘I’ve Had Death Threats Against My Family, I Can’t Let My Kids Go Anywhere’

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 01:30 PST, Jan 23, 2016

Steve Harvey hopefully won’t always be remembered for how he messed up when announcing the runner-up and winner of the 2015 Miss Universe pageant.

Perhaps no one really knows how bad he felt about it, until now. The New York Post reports that Harvey had an incredibly difficult time dealing with the incident, which included his own feelings and the backlash from the public. His biggest concern was always for the two women in the pageant.

“I can tell you some hard parts for me, but my deeper concern was for the two women. As bad as I felt, oh my God, Miss Colombia, my heart bled for her and I haven’t been able to talk to her since. That night I went to bed at 12:30 [a.m.] and I woke up at 2:30 [a.m.], I couldn’t even sleep.”

Steve Harvey said that life in the weeks following the Miss Universe incident was difficult and that his wife helped him through it.

“You’ve got to have somebody with you, somebody to climb down into the hole with you, and she did that. But she kept telling me, ‘Steve, keep your head up. Steve, you did the right thing. You did what your father raised you to be. You went out there and you took the hit.’ And my kids, man. People don’t understand the damage of social media… [I’ve had] death threats against my family, I can’t let my kids go anywhere. That’s very difficult.”

Steve Harvey has now had both Miss Universe, Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach, and Miss Colombia, Ariadna Gutiérrez, on his show and spoken with them about what happened when he announced the winner of the Miss Universe Pageant. In speaking with Miss Universe, Harvey was kind and apologetic.

But Steve Harvey really got emotional when Miss Colombia came onto the stage and so did she. His introduction of Gutiérrez was truly touching.

E! News reports that Harvey then started off telling Gutiérrez how much he wanted to speak with her.

“You’re the one person that I really wanted to talk to. Because of a mistake I’ve made, I cast you into a spotlight, a place, that I never intended to, that I would not want happen to anybody. I just want to say how sorry I am. I really am. I’m beyond sorry for what happened that night and that it was you. At the end of the day, I hope we walk away from this with something special.”

During the interview, Steve Harvey asked Gutiérrez how she thought he handled it and she seemed unsure of how to respond at first.

“You have to learn how to read cards, because it was on the card.”

She also joked that he wanted her to win and he liked that. Then, she revealed that she thought he was making a joke when he first announced he had made a mistake.

“I was laughing. If you see the videos, I was laughing, because I thought you were about to make a joke.”

Steve Harvey said it would have been the worst joke he had ever written in his life.

Steve Harvey is a kind man who wants the best for people. Rolling Out reports that on January 15, he had Tip “T.I.” Harris on his show and together they helped a single mother, who had been struggling through some difficult times. They gave her $10,000 on a prepaid VISA card, $15,000 for rent, and a new car. How incredible to watch her reaction.

Even Steve Harvey was tearing up.

[Composite image containing photos by Moses Robinson, Ethan Miller / Getty Images]

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miss universe steve harvey Ariadna Gutierrez
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