When ventriloquist Terry Fator won "America's Got Talent" in 2007, he signed a $100 million contract with The Mirage in Las Vegas and started living large. New cars, a lavish home, expensive possessions -- Fator wanted it all, as he explains in an interview for "Oprah: Where Are They Now?"
"When I first started making money, man, I was out of control," he says in the above video. "Two times a year, I would trade my car in and get a new one. I just couldn't get enough of it. I just wanted to spend, spend, spend."
But everything changed when the entertainer married his wife, Taylor Makakoa.
"My wife is very frugal," Fator says. "I have to explain to her that I like the name-brand ketchup. Don't get me the store-brand ketchup, because I don't like the store brand. She wants to save money, but it's a nickel less, you know?"
One of Fator's more expensive marriage lessons came when Makakoa celebrated a birthday. "I bought her $40,000 worth of Tiffany jewelry. I mean, it was gorgeous... I was so excited," he says. "I gave it to her for her birthday and the look on her face -- I knew she didn't like it."
When Fator asked his wife what was wrong, she told him she simply couldn't wear $40,000 worth of jewelry, as beautiful as it was.
"She took it back," Fator says. "Got the money back and bought a $1,500 nice necklace. She gave the rest to her favorite animal charity."
Makakoa's frugality has since rubbed off on Fator. "She's really helped rein me in," he says.
New episodes of "Oprah: Where Are They Now?" begin airing on Sunday, June 1, at 9 p.m. ET on OWN.
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