Larry Flynt, born on November 1, 1942, in Lakeville, Magoffin County, Kentucky, was the son of a sharecropper and World War II veteran, Larry Claxton Flynt Sr., and homemaker Edith Flynt. Raised in poverty during the final years of the Great Depression, he faced significant economic hardship. His father’s recurring military service resulted in a largely absent paternal figure, leaving much of the family’s emotional and financial support to his mother and grandmother.
A tragedy marked Flynt's early life: his younger sister Judy died from leukemia, a loss that contributed to the eventual divorce of his parents in 1951. At the age of 15, Flynt left home and, after falsifying documents, briefly joined the U.S. Army before later enlisting legally in the Navy.
By the age of 25, Flynt operated several bars and nightclubs in Ohio and had also launched a short-lived newspaper called Bachelor's Beat. To promote his clubs, he created a newsletter titled Hustler Newsletter. In 1974, in response to an economic downturn triggered by the 1973 oil crisis, he reimagined the newsletter as Hustler magazine, a publication featuring explicit sexual content.
Hustler distinguished itself by portraying graphic depictions of sexuality and often pushing the boundaries of taste and legality. The magazine's controversial editorial stance led Flynt into recurring legal battles over obscenity and First Amendment rights. Nevertheless, he consistently defended his work as an exercise of free speech and freedom of expression under U.S. law.
Flynt faced numerous legal battles related to the explicit and provocative content published in Hustler. These included cases brought by public figures and institutions; however, he emerged victorious in many of them. His most notable legal victory came with the 1988 Supreme Court case Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell, in which the Court ruled in Flynt’s favor, strengthening protections for parody under the First Amendment.
Throughout his career, Flynt became a vocal defender of civil liberties, particularly freedom of speech and the press. Though deeply polarizing, he has been praised by some legal experts and activists for challenging efforts to restrict speech and for consistently advocating First Amendment rights.
On March 6, 1978, Flynt was shot and critically injured by white supremacist Joseph Paul Franklin outside a courthouse in Georgia. The shooting, motivated by Flynt's decision to publish photos of interracial couples in Hustler, left him paralyzed from the waist down. As a result, he has used a wheelchair ever since and has experienced speech difficulties due to spinal cord damage.
Despite his injuries, he continued to oversee his business empire and participate in public discourse, often through interviews and media appearances.
| Birth Date: | 1 Nov, 1942 |
| Age: | 77 yrs |
| Citizenship: | United States of America |
| Birth Place: | Magoffin County |
| residence: | Hollywood Hills |
| Gender: | Male |
| Description: | American publisher |
| Spouse: | Althea Flynt[1976-1987] |
| Net Worth 2021: | 500 million |
