Howard Stern used to be one of the edgiest, most offensive, and downright brave entertainers around. There's no doubt that he's softened over the years. While he is still more than capable of pushing people's buttons and firing darts at certain public figures, he's been far tamer since meeting and falling in love with Beth Ostrosky.
After a year of being a single man following his divorce from Alison Berns, Howard met and fell head over heels with the beautiful and much younger model/actor. At the time of this writing, they've been together for over 20 years. Anyone who listens to The Howard Stern Show on SiriusXM knows that the iconic radio host is utterly smitten with his second wife. He's surprisingly romantic, dedicated, and thoughtful. These are traits he's likely always had behind the shock jock character he played on the radio in the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s, but there's no doubt that Beth brought them to the surface.
Howard's personal and creative growth, which has been partially triggered by his relationship with Beth, has changed so much about his show and even his relationship with his eldest daughter, Emily...
6 Beth Changed Howard's Relationship With His Daughter, Emily
It would be unfair to solely blame Howard's confusing relationship with his eldest daughter Emily on Beth. After all, Howard is the one who claims most of the responsibility for the divorce from Emily's mother, Alison. This event drastically changed Emily's life and her relationship with her dad. At least, so she's said in interviews. But she also publicly targeted Beth, referring to her as "a model", in an interview with The New York Post.
"I believed that my parents were very much in love," Emily claimed. "I felt like the divorce came out of nowhere. I thought that sacred bond was so strong. He used to be one way, and then he marries a model."
While Howard rarely speaks about any of his three daughters on air, he mentions Emily the least. This could be because she has the least amount to do with him and his new wife. This is in contrast to his youngest daughter who has always been exceptionally close with Beth.
5 Howard Stern Became More "Hollywood" Thanks To Beth
Some of Howard's old fanbase have been extremely critical of Howard's creative and personal metamorphosis over the years. Mostly because they don't like how he's become more "PC" and "bowed" to the Hollywood crowd. They believe he used to be more like the "common man" he spoke to on his radio show. But now he hangs out a lot with Jimmy Kimmel and all of his famous friends like Goerge Clooney and Emily Blunt.
The truth is, many of Howard's fans actually like that he's softened both personally and creatively. It's allowed him to get past some of his admitted jealousy and actually have conversations with interesting celebrities like Robert Downey Jr., Chris Rock, and Tina Fey. Whereas before his change, Howard would often attempt to ridicule them even when he had them on his show.
There's no doubt that Howard's growth coincided with him dating and marrying Beth. Anyone who has listened to The Howard Stern Show knows that Beth is a calm, collected, and soft-hearted individual. Being around her so much has bound to have inspired such a change.
4 Howard Stern Made Up With Ellen DeGeneres
Howard Stern used to say some truly awful things about Ellen DeGeneres on his radio show. While some of Howard's comments about Ellen kind of foreshadowed the toxic workplace allegations that came out recently, most of what he said was vicious. Yet, fans loved him for it because it was yet another example of Howard telling things as he saw them.
But Howard's relationship with Ellen has developed over the years, in part because Beth became friendly with both the acclaimed comedian and her wife, Portia. Now the four of them text back and forth and publicly praise each other.
3 Howard Stern Is Part of Bachelor Nation
Speaking of Ellen DeGeneres, Howard and Beth actually renewed their wedding vows live on her show. And the man orchestrating it all was former Bachelor star, Colton Underwood. Because of Beth, Howard has become absolutely addicted to The Bachelor. This wouldn't be that big of a deal if he didn't constantly talk about it on his show. Even his longtime co-host, Robin Quivers, is rarely interested in engaging in Bachelor talk.
2 Howard Stern Objectifies Women Less
All things sex will always be a massive part of The Howard Stern Show. But fans have noticed a drastic difference in how Howard treats women on his show. Gone are the days of strippers riding the Sybian and the "butter face" competitions. While a lot of his fans miss all that, others are happy he's toned it down. While his haters love to blame unseen executive producer Marci Turk for this change, it's likely Howard's life with Beth is the reason for this particular edit.
Howard still loves to ask female callers honest inappropriate questions, but he spends more time talking about romancing Beth.
1 Howard And Beth's Animal Charities
By far the best thing that Beth changed in Howard and his show is his passion for animal rescue. Even some of Howard's biggest critics seem to respect that he and his wife have helped find families for more than 1,200 stray cats. And they've done this from out their own home.
Howard often shares stories of living with numerous cats and constantly praises his wife on air for all the work she does with North Shore Animal League and their charity, Bianca's Fury Friends. Animal rescue was far from a typical topic on The Howard Stern Show in the 1990s, but it comes up at least once a week nowadays.
