Cristiano Ronaldo is a Portuguese professional soccer player with an estimated net worth of $280 million. He was born on February 5, 1985 in Funchal, Madeira, Portugal was the youngest of four kids. He has one brother and two sisters all older than he. His mother is Maria Dolores and his father is Jose. He was named after former president Ronald Reagan, who was also his father’s favorite actor. Growing up, Cristiano Ronaldo was a Catholic, and he was required to attend mass with his family regularly as they were all very religious. He was not raised in a home with much money. His father was a cook for a long time among working other odd jobs when time permitted, and he shared a bedroom with all of his siblings most of his childhood.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s life changed dramatically when he was only 12. He was offered a three-day trial with Sporting CP, and they offered him a significant sum of money to show up and play. He thought he might have a chance to be a semi-professional player, even though his family was unsure of it. He was chosen and he moved to Lisbon. Within two years, he was sure he could make a team and he managed to get his mother to agree to let him quit school and focus on his game. It worked out since he was a great kid in the eyes of other kids, but he’d been expelled from school when he threw a chair at one of his teachers when he felt the teacher didn’t respect him.

It wasn’t long after he turned 14 that Cristiano Ronaldo was diagnosed with a racing heart. The condition is dangerous enough to kill a person, and it was a reason for him to give up his dreams of playing soccer. However, his parents were able to get him surgery to correct it so that he did not have to give up his dreams. By the time he was 16 he was so good at the game that he was breaking records and changing the face of the game. He signed in 2003 with Manchester United, the fist Portuguese player ever chosen for the team. He was also the most expensive teen ever chosen to play for the team, and any team in the league. That’s when his career really began and he became one of the most famous soccer players in the history of the game.

Since becoming very famous, Cristiano Ronaldo has had many issues in his life. His father died in 2005 of alcoholism, and he does not drink as a result. He does not have tattoos, as he believes in donating blood and that would not allow him. He keeps his private life very private to the point that he became a father in 2010 and has full custody of his son and no one has any idea who the mother of the little boy actually is. He also keeps to himself and does not have many friends, though he does work in the world of charity often.

Photo by Getty Images