Dubliner Bill Cullen's personal life story is one of rags to riches as the boy from Summerhill went from being born into poverty to a nation TV star on The Apprentice.
Cullen was a regular on our telly screens during the Celtic Tiger as he headed up the Irish version of the show, but since then it hasn't been plain sailing for him.
He and his partner of 40 years, Jackie Lavin, were major players in the Irish business scene until the economic collapse of 2008 when the banks came crumbling down.
Born into poverty
Bill was born into poverty in the Summerhill area of Dublin in the 1940s and was the fifth of an incredible 14 children.
Cullen was involved in small local businesses from an early age, operating market stalls at the tender age of 13.
This led to getting a job as a messenger boy at Walden's Ford car dealership in the following years.
The rise of Cullen
This is where the rise of Bill Cullen really started.
In 1965, he was appointed the Director-General of the Ford dealership.
This would lead Cullen to establish his own dealership in 1977 when he set up the Fairlane Motor Company in Tallaght.
Under the guidance of Cullen, Fairlane Motor Company became the largest Ford dealership in the country. It wasn't until 1986 that he took over the entire Renault franchise in Ireland.
Economic crash
There were few areas in Ireland hit harder than car dealerships when the economy collapsed in the noughties. At its peak, the Renault franchise in Ireland had a turnover in excess of €350 million.
At one point, Cullen had an estimated net worth of €34 million
Following the collapse and the years after, the business suffered a €4 million loss, €18.6 million loss and €8.2 million loss in the proceeding years.
In 2012, the business was put into receivership.
In recent times
More recently, Bill Cullen has been in the news after he and his wife put the contents of their home up for auction.
Over 600 items from Osberstown House in Kildare were up for sale and ended up fetching over €370,000 at auction, well above the €250,000 they thought they would secure.
Bill has also suffered from health problems due to the stress of having this level of debt.
Following a court case, Jackie revealed that Bill had been hospitalised for stress. She said: "Bill has had a rough year in terms of illness."
