Howie Mandel and His Wife Had an Adorable Meet-Cute
Howie Mandel says one of the things that drew him to his wife was her sense of humor — which she kept even during her freak accident in 2024.
Jun. 18 2024, Published 12:54 p.m. ET
Canadian comedian Howie Mandel has been on our screens since the 1980s, and he's shown no signs of slowing down. Outside of work, the actor-producer and America's Got Talent judge is a proud dad of three and husband to his longtime wife, Terry.
Below, we take a look at Howie's relationship with his wife — including how they weathered a scary accident in Vegas in 2024 that left one of them hospitalized.
Terry Mandel and Howie Mandel in 2011
Howie Mandel and his wife have been married since 1980.
According to People, Howie and Terry were married on March 16, 1980, when they were both 24 though they had known each other since they were kids in Canada. They bumped into each other while buying french fries, which is an adorable meet-cute. (Of course if they were buying hot dogs it would be more of a meat-cute, but we digress.) Howie had to borrow money from Terry, and as he told Today in 2022, he's been "paying her back ever since."
They share three children together and attribute their joy-filled decades together to communication, per People. Like her husband, Terry has worked in the entertainment industry, though she prefers to stay behind the scenes as a producer and talent agent. In fact it was Terry who pushed Howie into hosting Deal or No Deal. He was concerned about doing a job that mostly involved reading trivia questions. She simply told him, "You'll see. It'll be good." Thankfully he took that deal.
In 2009 he gushed about Terry's great sense of humor while chatting with Good Housekeeping. The moment she made him laugh, which was often, that's when Howie knew he wanted to marry Terry. "The biggest void that people can have in their lives is a sense of humor," he said. "Spending your life with someone who doesn't have that wouldn't be palatable."
Based on his harrowing true-crime adjacent Vegas story in June 2024 (more on that below!), Terry can still make him laugh even when she's down.
Howie Mandel's wife had a fall and broke her cheek after a night of partying.
Sometimes what happens in Vegas doesn't actually stay in Vegas, especially if the story is worthy of national television. Howie popped into Live with Kelly and Mark in June 2024 to share a funny-in-hindsight story about an accident Terry had while they were visiting Sin City. The America's Got Talent judge was able to draw from his decades of comedic experience to spin a bloody tale into the kind of anecdote one tells at dinner parties.
Howie launched into a horrifying story in such an upbeat fashion that it was easy to forget the evening ended at the hospital. He and Terry were in Las Vegas where they spent the evening with Live with Kelly and Mark executive producer Michael Gelman and his wife Laurie. Apparently that was their first mistake as both Mark and Kelly said pre-gaming with the Gelmans was always a gamble.
They had a lovely dinner at Papi Steakhouse where Howie admitted they "partied too much." Terri got a little tipsy which resulted in her getting up in the middle of the night for some unknown reason. As Howie tells it, she had fallen asleep while watching Snapped, Oxygen's long-running show primarily focused on women who murder their partners. It turns out that was almost a bit of foreshadowing as Terri would soon be lying in a pool of her own blood.
Evidently she walked into the wall and, more specifically, the wainscoting. "I know that because I watch HGTV," explained Howie. "There was no shiplap. It was wainscoting." Somehow she hit her eye then fell to the floor which is how Terry broke her cheek. The noise woke up Howie, who asked, "Where are you?" Terry managed to mumble, "I don't know." At this point the whole scene turns into a French farce.
Howie gets up and sees Terry slumped over in the corner of their room, surrounded by her own blood. He picked her up and placed her on the bed then decided to get some ice. Naturally the scene was chaotic so Howie grabbed the first cold thing he could find: a can of soda from the mini fridge. Upon placing it against Terry's head, she screamed "No!" and flung it across the room. This happened a few more times. After realizing he could see her skull, Howie called down to the front desk.
It's unclear as to why Howie didn't call 9-1-1 himself but again, he was panicked. Instead of calling for an ambulance, the front desk sent up security who were met with an admittedly suspicious situation. Poor Terry was now lying on the bed still bleeding while the floor was still covered in blood and now, cans of soda. As a reminder, Snapped was still playing in the background. Things were not looking good for Howie but thankfully Terry made it to the hospital and has since made a full recovery.
