John Edward

John Edward McGee Jr. (born October 19, 1969) is an American television personality, writer and psychic medium.

After writing his first book on the subject in 1998, Edward became a well-known (and controversial) figure in the United States with his shows broadcast on the Sci-Fi Channel premiering in July 2000 along with broadcasting on We TV since May 2006.

Edward (born in Glen Cove, New York) is the only son of an Irish-American police officer and an Italian-American working mother.

He was raised Roman Catholic and although he later stopped practicing, he's stated he's never stopped feeling connected to God and his Catholic roots.

Edward was quoted saying, "This is something that is driven by a belief in God. It's the energy from that force that I think allows us to create this energy."

According to Edward, when he was 15 and "a huge doubter" (in psychic abilities), he was read by a New Jersey woman who convinced him that he could become a medium.

"She told me things that there is no way she could have known. And the first part of the reading was that this was the path that I was supposed to be on and that I was supposed to be a teacher and help people and – I thought she was nuts."

Edward published his first book, One Last Time, in 1998.

His related appearance on Larry King Live later in the year prompted enough phone calls to overload the show's switchboard.

The next year, Edward had a show of his own.

From 2001 to 2004, Edward was the producer and host of the show Crossing Over with John Edward, which has been syndicated and was broadcast on the Sci-Fi Channel in the United States and on Living TV in the UK.

In Crossing Over, Edward gave psychic readings to audience members.

Readings in Crossing Over involve Edward questioning audience members with what is presented as information being supposedly "communicated" by deceased friends and relatives.

Edward says he receives images and clues from "the other side" which the audience must try to interpret.

The audience is not supposed to supply Edward with any prior information about themselves, their family or whom they are trying to connect with "on the other side", aside from questionnaires filled out prior to taping.

Audience members respond to Edward's statements and questions, adding any details they feel are appropriate.

The show often employs a split screen, the view of a reading without sound on one half of the screen while on the other half the subjects of the reading are shown in a later interview as they discuss their experiences.

A voiceover by Edward is also implemented at times, sharing further insights.

In other instances, Edward conducted private sessions away from the studio audience.

The subjects of these segments later spoke in greater detail about the situation that led to their reading with Edward and the effect the reading had on their lives.

Periodically, segments revisit people who have previously appeared on the show.

Shortly after the September 11 attacks, Edward began filming at least one special in which he met with some relatives of the victims, with the intention of communicating with those who were killed.

According to Edward's autobiography, he did not know that the producers had chosen the victims' families to appear on the show.

The trade magazine Broadcasting & Cable sent a story, "'Psychic' Plans WTC Victims Show", on the daily subscription-fax sent to news media and TV station executives on October 25, 2001.

Steve Rosenberg, president of domestic television at Studios USA, the company that distributes Edward's program, had tentatively scheduled the program(s) to be broadcast during the November sweeps period, but news of the taping sparked a national outcry.

Both the Sci Fi Channel and the Crossing Over with John Edward production office were flooded with phone calls and e-mails, some expressing outrage at the exploitation of the national tragedy, others at what they perceived as extreme tastelessness in search of ratings.

Rosenberg initially ignored the criticism, insisting the programming would go on as scheduled, but within hours he terminated his plans.

Speaking of the same encounter in a 2002 interview, Edward Said, "She told me I would one day become internationally known for my psychic abilities through lectures, books, radio and TV. I thought she was full of it until she started to tell me things no one in my life knew about... The details were unbelievable."

Later, Edward worked as a phlebotomist while pursuing a degree in health care administration at Long Island University.

He met his wife, Sandra McGee, when he was a student in a dance studio, and he became a ballroom dancing instructor.

He and his wife had their first child, Justin, on September 25, 2002, and their second child, Olivia, on January 25, 2007.

Edward's next show, John Edward Cross Country, was broadcast on We TV from March 2006 to late 2008.

In each episode, after a reading, Edward is filmed visiting the person or people whose reading was televised, along with their families, to see how the experience had changed their lives.

During the first season of Cross Country, Edward traveled across the US, giving readings to large audiences in public venues.

In subsequent seasons, the show has been broadcast from a set similar to that used for Crossing Over.

Edward's tours outside the USA have included performances in Canada, Australia, the UK, and Ireland.

In October 2007, Edward appeared on Headline Prime, hosted by Glenn Beck.

In response to the announcement of his 2019 Australian tour, The Sydney Morning Herald published an article by Peter FitzSimons which called Edward a fraud.

Critics of Edward assert that he performs the mentalist techniques of hot reading and cold reading, in which one respectively uses prior knowledge or a wide array of quick and sometimes general guesses to create the impression of psychic ability.

Choosing the first reading from a two-hour tape of edited shows as a sample, illusionist and skeptic James Randi found that just 3 of 23 statements made by Edward were confirmed as correct by the audience member being read, and the three statements that were correct were also trivial and nondescript.