Anthony Jay Robbins (born Anthony J. Mahavoric, February 29, 1960) is an American author, coach, speaker, and philanthropist. He is known for his infomercials, seminars, and self-help books including the books Unlimited Power and Awaken the Giant Within.
Robbins was born Anthony J. Mahavoric in North Hollywood, California, on February 29, 1960. Robbins is the eldest of three children, and his parents divorced when he was seven. He is of Croatian heritage from both sides of his family. His mother then remarried several times, including a marriage with Jim Robbins, a former semi-professional baseball player who legally adopted Anthony when he was 12.
During high school, Robbins grew ten inches a year, a growth spurt later attributed to a pituitary tumor. He has said his home life was "chaotic" and "abusive". When he was 17 years old, he left home and never returned. Robbins later worked as a janitor, and did not attend college. One day he asked the landlord on site, who was a family friend, about how he became so successful. The landlord then told him that he started to turn his life around after going to a Jim Rohn seminar.
Robbins began promoting seminars for motivational speaker and author Jim Rohn when he was 17 years old. In the early 1980s, Robbins, a practitioner of neurolinguistic programming (NLP) and Ericksonian hypnosis, partnered with NLP co-founder John Grinder. He subsequently learned to firewalk and incorporated it into his seminars.
