At 56, Rick Harrison's Third Wife Looks Familiar

Jul 23, 2021 by apost team

Rick Harrison is an American reality television personality and the owner of the Gold and Silver Pawnshop in Las Vegas, Nevada. The store was originally opened by Harrison and his father in 1989, but he has been the sole owner since Richard "Old Man" Harrison passed away in 2018. Harrison is one of the stars of the reality series "Pawn Stars" on the History channel. 

"Pawn Stars" has been on air since 2009, when it was the channel's highest-rated show and the second-ranked reality show in the U.S. When the show debuted, it starred Harrison, his father, his son Corey "Big Hoss" Harrison, and Austin "Chumlee" Russell. The series shows the interpersonal relationships and conflicts among the cast and has been described as a combination of "Antiques Roadshow" and "Cops."  

The series showcases the interactions between the staff of the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop and their customers. The clientele bring in artifacts and other valuable items to be appraised and then sold or pawned. You can see some of the customers try to negotiate or haggle on the value of the items throughout the show. Harrison also takes the time to explain the history of each piece. 

In his personal life, Harrison has been married three times and has three sons from his first two marriages. His most recent marriage was in 2013 to Deanna Burditt. Burditt has also been married twice before Harrison and has three daughters of her own. Keep reading to learn more about Harrison's career and his marriage to Burditt.

Harrison was born in Lexington, North Carolina, on March 22, 1965. He is the third child of Richard "Old Man" Harrison and Joanne Rhue Harrison. His father was in the U.S. Navy prior to owning his pawn business. As a child, Harrison suffered from epileptic seizures that began at the age of eight. This condition would confine him to bed for long periods of time, and this led to Harrison's lifelong love of reading.

After his father's passing, Harrison and the entire crew of "Pawn Stars" were devastated. He told Fox News: "I think about him every day. I had a different relationship with him. Most people, when they turn 18, they go off to school, get a job and move out. I worked with my father from the time I was a kid. He stayed in the Navy for years because of me. Otherwise, it would have been really difficult with my medical expenses. But despite my epilepsy, he never treated me differently."

Harrison speaks highly of his father and credits him for teaching him many valuable lessons throughout his life. "He really changed my perspective on life and how words have meaning. That was one of the greatest life lessons he ever gave me… He was just an amazing individual. He taught that no matter what, you always take care of your kids, your family. If you have kids, you're a father for the rest of your life. He was an old school kind of guy that I think we need more of," said Harrison.

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Harrison dropped out of high school in the tenth grade to "pursue his $2,000-a-week business of selling fake Gucci bags," according to the History channel. The man began working in pawnshops when he was 13 and then saved up enough money to go into business with his father at 23.

When he was 17, Harrison married his high school sweetheart Kim, and the couple had two sons together named Corey and Adam. Unfortunately, they divorced shortly after Adam was born in 1985. 

Harrison met his second wife, Tracy, nine months later, and they moved in together after six months and were married by the eighth-month mark of their relationship. Tracy helped take care of Corey and Adam, and she and Harrison had a son together, Jake. Tracy and Harrison were together until their divorce in 2011.

Gold & Silver Pawn Shop

After finally receiving their long-awaited pawn license, the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop opened for business in 1989. Previously, Harrison and his father had opened a store called the Gold and Silver Coin Shop, but they felt opening a pawning business was a natural progression for their establishment. 

The star explained how the pawning business works to NPR. Harrison said, "Say you have a wedding band. You bring the wedding band into my store. I offer you $100 and you accept it. I give you the $100, plus a pawn ticket. You have 120 days to come back to my pawn shop and pick up your merchandise and pay me my money back."

Harrison continued:

"If you come back in 30 days, you give me $115. I hand you the ring back and everything's good in the world. Now, if you don't pay me back," he says, "I end up keeping the merchandise and I put it in my showcase for sale. Nothing goes on your credit report. No one chases you down to break any legs or anything like that. You just simply have lost your merchandise. It's that simple."

There are many challenges to owning a pawn business, and one major concern is buying or selling stolen items. Harrison explained:

"Most people don't realize how regulated the pawn industry is, especially where I'm at in Nevada. When I take something in pawn or I buy something, I just don't take an ID. I take their driver's license number, their height, their weight, their eye color, their build. I turn that into the local police department, and then I also turn it into Homeland Security. It's part of the Patriot Act, and that goes to a central database online across the United States that checks for stolen items."

Harrison also shared with NPR that he bought a pair of stolen earrings once for $40,000 and then had to return the item to its rightful owner, meaning he was out quite a lot of money. "It's the cost of doing business. That's the way I look at it. ... And Las Vegas is a crazy town at times. There's a lot of high-end things I get. So you have to know about ... really large diamonds, really expensive watches. ... So it's a lot different than most places," explained Harrison.

Harrison told Fox that his favorite items to see in the store are books. He said, "I collect books and one thing I would love to get are some books by Giordano Bruno, the martyr of science. He was absolutely one of the craziest figures in history. He was ultimately burned at the stake after being sentenced to death by the Roman Inquisition for his heretical ideas — everyone should learn about him at one point in their lives. His books were ultimately wiped out from existence. Obtaining one today is definitely up there for me."

The businessman also said that he has never regretted making, or not making, any deals in the past. Harrison told Fox News: 

"Whenever I talk about business to people, I always tell them, 'If the deal's not right, the deal's not right. Just walk away.' You can't think later, 'Maybe I should have bought this or that.' It's part of the business. Sometimes you have to be willing to walk away and not risk-taking on a bad deal. Imagine, you get people pretty much coming in every day and they're expecting this huge amount of money for something they found in their attic. And in reality, it's like no, that's not worth what he or she is expecting."

'Pawn Stars'

"Pawn Stars" has been on the air for 17 seasons now, with 577 episodes. The show is hugely successful and has fans from all around the world. The staff who work at the pawnshop are now celebrities in their own right. Harrison explained to Fox News why he thinks the show has been so successful:

"I think it's a lot of things. First off, most reality shows are pretty much scripted. Mine is not. And it's truly different every week. You can have a show about motorcycles or cars, but there's only so much you can do with a motorcycle or a car every week. And people want to learn, but they don't want to feel like they're sitting around with a professor. I give all the history lessons and I make learning entertaining on the show."

With so many years under his belt, Harrison still isn't tired of making the show. He said he would go on making it "as long as it's fun and still a blast." 

He added, "One of the greatest things about my show is that it continues to be interesting. It continues to surprise me. We can come across an 1890s personal printing press one day or a Viking bracelet on another day. I've dealt with coins that are 3,000 years old and then lunch boxes from the '70s. It continues to be fun for me and it's still a highly rated show on television. Maybe 20 years from now I might be too old to continue doing it but right now it brings everything that I love together. The chance to highlight these historical artifacts keeps me going."

Harrison also mentioned that most of the clients that come into the store and agree to be on the show are not there to pawn. He explained:

"The people pawning goods never want to be on the show, And the reason behind that is because when people are pawning something, they're getting a loan and have to admit they're broke. ... When people are selling something, it's a financial transaction and it's just perceived differently."

Harrison has a lot of experience negotiating with customers over the right price for the items and artifacts they bring into the store. He told NPR his advice for negotiating is: 

"You're negotiating against yourself. You don't want to offer someone $1,000 for something, if you ask them what they'd pay for it, and they might have said $500. ... And if it's in your head that you're going to buy this no matter what, you've already lost. There's no real negotiating going on. You've completely capitulated if you're going to get it no matter what."

A good businessman can be judged by the way he treats his customers, and Harrison isn't afraid to negotiate up a price if he knows it is the right thing to do. He told this story:

"I actually had a lady come into my pawn shop with a Faberge brooch. And she wanted $2,000 for it. And I just explained to her, 'You know what? I can't do it to you.' I ended up giving her $15,000. I just couldn't do it. I really do believe in six degrees of separation. If I did give her $2,000 for that, she would have eventually found out that I ripped her off, and she would have told everybody for the rest of her life, 'Don't go to that store. They will rip you off.'... And I'm sure (good karma) works, because that woman will be worth her weight in advertising because she will tell everybody for the rest of her life what I did for her."

Harrison announced he was engaged to Deanna Burditt in 2012. He gave an interview to People magazine that year and shared that he was thrilled by the engagement, adding, "I'm the happiest guy alive. I'm living the dream."

Harrison had his own way of proposing to Burditt, who is a legal secretary. "I didn't really ask her, I told her 'Girl, I'm marrying you,' and then I gave her the ring," he said

The pair seem like a match made in heaven, or maybe Hollywood with their resemblance to a special TV family. "It's perfect symmetry," Harrison said. "I've got three boys. She's got three girls. We're basically the Brady Bunch."

The couple hired a wedding planner, but Harrison joked that he was stuck with most of the planning duties. "I just had no idea there was so much involved. I just thought you got a cake, had a party, bought a keg," he said.

The wedding took place on July 21, 2013, in Laguna Beach, California. There were 180 guests in attendance, including several of the stars from the show and other History channel crew. People reported that Chumlee was the ring bearer, and other elements of the ceremony could have been considered untraditional. Danny Koker from the reality series "Counting Cars" served as the officiating minister. 

People also reported that Burditt wore a white Inbal Dror wedding dress shipped in from London's Morgan Davies Bridal. The happy couple is still together in 2021, and we wish them all the best in their future together.

What do you think about Harrison's marriage to Burditt? Are you a fan of "Pawn Stars?" Let us know your opinion, and be sure to send this story on to your friends and family.