Danielle Fernandes Dominique Schuelein-Steel (born August 14, 1947) is an American writer best known for her romance novels. She is the most successful living author and the fourth-most successful fiction author of all time, with over 800 million copies of her books sold. As of 2024, she has written 210 books, including more than 182 novels.

Most of her career has taken place in California, where she has written several books each year. She often works on up to five projects at the same time. All her novels have been bestsellers, even though they have not received much praise from critics, according to Publishers Weekly. Her stories frequently focus on wealthy families dealing with difficult situations, such as prison, fraud, blackmail, and suicide.

In addition to romance novels, Steel has also written children’s fiction and poetry. She established the Nick Traina Foundation in memory of her son. This foundation supports organizations that help people with mental illness. Her books have been translated into 43 languages, and 22 of them have been adapted for television. Two of these adaptations were nominated for Golden Globe awards.

Early life

Danielle Steel was born Danielle Fernandes Dominique Schuelein-Steel in New York City. Her father, John Schuelein-Steel, was a German-Jewish immigrant and came from a family that owned a famous beer company called Löwenbräu. Her mother, Norma da Camara Stone dos Reis, was the daughter of a Portuguese diplomat.

She lived in France for much of her childhood. From an early age, she attended dinner parties with her parents, which allowed her to see how wealthy and famous people lived. Her parents divorced when she was eight years old, and she was mostly raised by her father, seeing her mother only rarely. Steel began writing stories as a child and started writing poetry by the time she was in her late teens. She was raised Catholic and considered becoming a nun during her early years. She graduated from the Lycée Français de New York in 1965. She studied literature, design, and fashion at Parsons School of Design and later at New York University.

Career

While still in school at New York University, Steel began writing and finished her first book at age 19. She worked for a public relations company in New York named Supergirls. A client, John Mack Carter, who was an editor for Ladies' Home Journal, encouraged her to focus on writing after being impressed by her articles. He suggested she write a book, which she did. Later, she moved to San Francisco and worked as a writer for Grey Advertising.

Her first novel, Going Home, was published in 1973. This book included themes that became central to her writing, such as family and human relationships. Her relationship with her second husband influenced two of her early novels, Passion's Promise and Now and Forever, which helped launch her career. After her fourth book, The Promise, became successful, she became part of San Francisco’s high society.

Starting in 1991, Steel’s books regularly appeared on The New York Times bestseller lists for hardcover and paperback books. In 1999, she was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for having a book on the New York Times Bestseller List for the most consecutive weeks, 456 at that time. Steel says her books take about 2½ years to complete, and she can work on up to five projects at once. She researches one book while planning another. Every novel she has published since her first has reached bestseller lists in paperback, and each hardcover book has also been a top-selling hardcover book.

During this time, Steel also wrote nonfiction books. In 1984, she published Having a Baby, which included a chapter about her experience with miscarriage. That same year, she released a poetry book titled Love: Poems. She also wrote children’s books, including a series of 57 illustrated books called the “Max and Martha” series. These books help children deal with real-life challenges, such as having a new baby, starting school, or losing a loved one. She also wrote a series called “Freddie,” which includes books about other life events, such as staying overnight for the first time or visiting a doctor.

In 1993, Steel sued a writer named Lorenzo Bene, who planned to reveal in his book that her son, Nick, was adopted by her then-husband, John Traina. This information was not allowed to be shared because adoption records are kept private in California. A San Francisco judge made an unusual decision to unseal Nick’s adoption records, even though Nick was still a minor. This decision was later confirmed by a California Appellate Judge, who said that because Steel was famous, her son’s adoption did not have the same privacy rights, and the book was allowed to be published.

After many years of writing, in 2003, Steel opened an art gallery in San Francisco called the Steel Gallery. The gallery showed work by emerging artists, including paintings and sculptures. The gallery closed in 2007, but Steel continues to organize art shows a few times a year for the Andrea Schwartz Gallery in San Francisco.

In 2002, the French government honored Steel as an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters for her contributions to world culture.

She has also received the following honors:
– Induction into the California Hall of Fame in December 2009.
– “Distinguished Service in Mental Health Award” (first given to a non-physician) from New York Presbyterian Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, and Columbia University Medical School and Cornell Medical College in May 2009.
– “Outstanding Achievement Award” for work with adolescents from Larkin Street Youth Services in San Francisco in May 2003.
– “Service to Youth Award” for helping children and teens with mental health challenges from the University of San Francisco Catholic Youth Organization and St. Mary’s Medical Center in November 1999.
– “Outstanding Achievement Award” in Mental Health from the California Psychiatric Association.
– “Distinguished Service Award” from the American Psychiatric Association.

In 2006, Steel partnered with Elizabeth Arden to create a new perfume called Danielle by Danielle Steel.

In 2014, she wrote an article for SFGate expressing her concern that San Francisco was losing its unique character.

Personal life

In 1965, at the age of 18, Steel married French banker Claude-Éric Lazard and had a daughter named Beatrix. Steel and Lazard divorced in 1972. While still married to Lazard, Steel met Danny Zugelder while interviewing a prisoner in a prison near Lompoc, California, where Zugelder was also imprisoned. Zugelder moved in with Steel after being released from prison in June 1973, but he returned to prison in early 1974 due to charges of robbery and rape. After receiving her divorce from Lazard in 1975, Steel married Zugelder in the prison canteen. During their relationship, Steel experienced several miscarriages. She divorced Zugelder in 1978.

In 1978, Steel married her third husband, William George Toth, while pregnant with their son, Nick. They divorced in March 1981.

In 1981, Steel married John Traina, a business owner in shipping, cruises, and later in wine and art collecting. Traina was previously married to Dede Wilsey. Together, they had five children: Samantha, Victoria, Vanessa, Maxx, and Zara. Traina adopted Steel’s son, Nick, and gave him his family name. Steel also became the stepmother of Traina’s sons, Trevor and Todd. To spend more time with her children, Steel often wrote at night, getting only four hours of sleep each night. Steel and Traina divorced in 1995.

In the early 1980s, Steel’s fear of flying caused challenges. She completed an eight-week program at the San Francisco airport to help her overcome this fear.

In 1997, Steel married Silicon Valley financier Thomas James Perkins. Their marriage ended in 2002 after four years. Steel has said that her novel The Klone and I was inspired by a private joke between her and Perkins. In 2006, Perkins dedicated his novel Sex and the Single Zillionaire to Steel.

Steel lived in San Francisco for many years but now spends most of her time at a second home in Paris. Her San Francisco home, the Spreckels Mansion, has 55 rooms and was built around 1912 as the home of sugar tycoon Adolph B. Spreckels.

Despite her public life and many activities, Steel is known to be shy. To protect her children from the media, she rarely gives interviews or makes public appearances.

Steel’s son, Nick Traina, died by suicide in 1997. He was the lead singer of San Francisco punk bands Link 80 and Knowledge. To honor his memory, Steel wrote the nonfiction book His Bright Light, which details Nick’s life and death. Money from the book was used to create the Nick Traina Foundation, which Steel leads to support organizations that help treat mental accessibility issues. To raise awareness about children’s mental health, Steel has lobbied for laws in Washington, and previously held a fundraiser every two years in San Francisco called The Star Ball. In 2002, she founded the Yo Angel Foundation to help the homeless.

Writing style

Steel's novels often follow a similar pattern, placing characters in situations that challenge their relationships. These stories sometimes focus on the lives of wealthy or famous people and address serious topics such as illness, death, loss, family problems, and relationships. Some people believe her popular stories are inspired by events from her own life. Although critics sometimes call her work "fluff," Steel's stories also explore difficult or dark parts of human nature, including incest, suicide, divorce, war, and the Holocaust. Over time, her writing has changed. Her later heroines are often stronger and more confident. If they do not receive the respect they want from a man, they choose to move on with their lives. In recent years, Steel has taken more risks with her stories. For example, Ransom focuses more on suspense than romance and follows three groups of characters whose lives become connected. Toxic Bachelors tells its story from the perspectives of three men who are afraid of relationships and eventually find love.

To avoid being compared to her earlier books, Steel does not write sequels. Many of her early books were printed in large numbers, such as 1 million copies, but by 2004, her publisher reduced the initial print run to 650,000 copies because fewer people were buying books. However, her fans remained loyal, and her books often sold out and topped charts worldwide.

Twenty-two of her books have been turned into television shows, including two that received Golden Globe nominations. One is Jewels, which follows a woman and her children surviving World War II in Europe and rebuilding their lives as a famous jewelry business. In 1998, Columbia Pictures became the first movie studio to buy the rights to one of her novels, The Ghost. In 2005, Steel agreed to sell the film rights to 30 of her books for DVDs to New Line Home Entertainment.

Steel spends two to three years writing each book and works on several projects at the same time. She begins by making notes about her characters, explaining that she needs to understand them deeply before starting to write. In a 2018 interview with The New York Times, she said, "I make notes for a while before I start work on the outline. The notes are usually more about the characters. I need to know the characters really well before I start — who they are, how they think, how they feel, what has happened to them, how they grew up." In a 2019 interview with The Guardian, she mentioned spending 20 to 30 hours at a time typing on her typewriter, which earned her both attention and criticism.

Steel writes all her novels on Olympia SG1 standard typewriters. She uses two machines: one at her home in San Francisco and another at her home in Paris. The typewriter in San Francisco has been hers since she bought it secondhand for $20 while working on her first book.

Works

Danielle Steel has written more than 210 books, including over 182 novels. Her books have been translated into 43 languages and are available in 69 countries around the world.

Her books include novels, non-fiction, picture books, and two children's book series: the Max & Martha series and the Freddie series.

Filmography

• The Promise (1979, theatrical film)
• Now and Forever (1983, theatrical film)
• Crossings (1986, miniseries)
• Kaleidoscope (1990, television film)
• Fine Things (1990, television film)
• Changes (1991, television film)
• Palomino (1991, television film)
• Daddy (1991, television film)
• Secrets (1992, television film)
• Jewels (1992, miniseries)
• Heartbeat (1993, television film)
• Star (1993, television film)
• Message from Nam (1993, television film)
• Once in a Lifetime (1994, television film)
• A Perfect Stranger (1994, television film)
• Family Album (1994, miniseries)
• Vanished (1995, television film)
• Zoya (1995, television film)
• Mixed Blessings (1995, television film)
• No Greater Love (1996, television film)
• Remembrance (1996, television film)
• Full Circle (1996, television film)
• The Ring (1996, television film)
• Safe Harbour (2007, direct-to-video)