Holly Robinson Peete

Peete was born Holly Elizabeth Robinson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Dolores and Matt Robinson (the first Gordon on Sesame Street). Her mother was a school teacher, in public relations, and later a personal talent manager, and her father a producer/writer. She has an older brother named Matthew Thomas Robinson III. She attended Greene Street Friends School in nearby Germantown.^[3] In 1974, her family moved to California.^[4] Peete graduated from Santa Monica High School in Santa Monica, California, where her classmates included Rob Lowe and Yvette Lee Bowser. Peete graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1986 with a degree in psychology and French.^[5] Peete studied abroad for a year at the Sorbonne, and is fluent in French.^[5] While there she sang in Paris nightclubs, including a performance with jazz musician Lionel Hampton at the Hotel Meridian Jazz Club.^[6][7][8]

She made her first television appearance on Sesame Street. She recalls that when she was six years old, she kept blowing her line, saying "Hi, Daddy", instead of "Hi, Gordon", his character's name. She ended up with just an appearance where she walked down the street with Big Bird.^[9] At the age of 11, Holly worked for the children's show Kidsworld as a celebrity correspondent; she interviewed many actors and actresses for the program. As an actress, she has appeared on the TV series 21 Jump Street (1987–1991), Hangin' with Mr. Cooper (1992–1997), For Your Love (1998–2002), and Like Family (2003–2004). She was featured in the video for the 1990 hit single "Whip Appeal" by Babyface as the sultry radio host at the beginning of the video.^[10] While on Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, in 1992, she portrayed Diana Ross in The Jacksons: An American Dream. Robinson most recently starred on the UPN comedy Love, Inc.. The show lasted just one season, and was canceled after the WB/UPN merger.

Robinson has also had a limited career as a singer and recording artist, including the introductory song to 21 Jump Street.^[9] She contributed a variety of songs to the soundtrack of the film Howard the Duck. (She appeared as a musician/singer in a minor role in the film.) She recorded the theme song "We Got Our Love" for the 1987 film Three for the Road. She and Dawnn Lewis, along with R&B quartet En Vogue, performed the theme song for the first season of Hangin' with Mr. Cooper.

In 2006, she won, along with fellow writer Daniel Paisner, the Quills Award in Sports for the book Get Your Own Damn Beer, I'm Watching the Game!: A Woman's Guide to Loving Pro Football.^[11]

In 2010, she participated in The Celebrity Apprentice 3, playing for her own charity, the HollyRod Foundation,^[9] which provides support for families with Parkinson's disease or autism.

Robinson began co-hosting The Talk, a CBS daytime talk show, on October 18, 2010.^[12] In this forum, Robinson was known for expressing herself through her ethnicity and being especially vocal about African American issues and, since her son Rodney is affected by it, autism.^[13] In April 2011, Robinson hosted a weekly series on The Talk promoting autism awareness.^[14]

After serving on The Talk for its first season, Peete along with Leah Remini were released from the show. Failure to ever disclose why the two were let go brought on a great deal of audience criticism of the show, as well as protests from the stars' fans.^[15][16] Sharon Osbourne, Peete's former co-host on The Talk, reasoned why the two former hosts were released from the program in a guest appearance on The Howard Stern Show, criticizing both Peete and Remini. In early 2021, Osbourne was later embroiled in a scandal for her remarks made on The Talk to Sheryl Underwood, leading to Osbourne's termination from the program. During Osbourne's scandal and termination, both Peete and Remini took to social media to reproach Osbourne over her behaviors, additionally pointing out that they were on the receiving end of similar behaviors by Osbourne. Osbourne responded with threats of defamation lawsuits against both women, but ultimately did nothing.^[17][18]

Peete hosted the 42nd NAACP Image Awards, alongside Wayne Brady, on March 4, 2011.^[19]

The Peete family starred in a reality TV series on OWN, entitled For Peete's Sake from 2016 to 2017.^[20] The series followed the lives of Peete and her husband Rodney as they juggle career choices with their family life.^[21] This was followed by a similar Hallmark Channel reality series Meet the Peetes, which also ran for two seasons from 2018 to 2019.^[22]

In 2023, Peete competed in season nine of The Masked Singer as "Fairy". After besting Malin Akerman as "Squirrel" and Lele Pons as "Jackalope" on "Sesame Street Night", she was eliminated on "Country Night" alongside Alexa Bliss as "Axolotl". Peete also made some references to her father's work on Sesame Street.

On June 10, 1995, Robinson married Rodney Peete, a National Football League quarterback. He proposed by surprising Holly during an episode of Hangin' with Mr. Cooper on October 7, 1994. They have four children: twins, daughter Ryan Elizabeth Peete and son Rodney Peete, Jr. (born October 17, 1997), and sons Robinson Peete (born August 11, 2002), and Roman Peete (born February 25, 2005).

One of their twins, Rodney Jr., was diagnosed with autism at age three.^[23] Robinson played baseball for Sierra Canyon School (2017-2019).

After her father was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, Robinson and her husband co-founded the HollyRod Foundation, which is dedicated to help find a cure for the disease, as well as for autism, and assist those living with the conditions.^[9][24]

In September 2012, Nestle's Carnation Breakfast Essentials announced they had teamed up with Robinson, featuring her as the spokesperson for the brand.^[25][26] On October 4, 2012, Robinson was inducted as an honorary member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.^[27]

Note: She was credited as Holly Robinson until 1997.

• Holly Robinson Peete at IMDb
• Holly Robinson Peete 2006 Interview on Sidewalks Entertainment
• Holly Robinson Peete Biography
• Holly Robinson Peete discography at Discogs