Joan Marie Rosich Is Vanna White’s Mom Who Raised Her with Host’s Stepfather

Vanna White's mother, Joan Marie Rosich, passed away a few years before the "Goddess of Love" actress made it big as the cohost of the popular network game show "Wheel of Fortune."

Joan Marie Rosich had an office job but inadvertently inspired her daughter, Vanna White, to pursue a television career. She brought up her kids in a small coastal town with southern values.

Joan split from her husband when her daughter was very young and remarried. Over the years, Vanna has posted touching tributes to her mother on social media.

Why Joan Marie Rosich Named Her Only Daughter Vanna

Joan, an accountant, gave birth to her first child, Vanna Marie Rosich, in 1957. Her daughter was baptized in the Baptist church. Vanna's name was inspired by her grandmother's next-door neighbor, Vana. Taken by the exciting name, Joan said:

"Well, I'm gonna name my daughter Vanna with two n's."

Three years later, she had her son, Chip White. However, her husband, Miguel Rosich, who hailed from Puerto Rico, walked out on the family soon after. Nonetheless, her second husband, Herbert White Jr., was an excellent father to her children, with Vanna taking his last name.

Vanna White's Mother Raised Her in a Small Town

The "Wheel of Fortune" cohost and her brother grew up in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, when the town only had a population of 5,000. "We'd surf at the beach all summer and work dinners at Tony's Italian Restaurant at night," Chip recalls.

In 2015, she called Joan "the best mother ever!"

Remembering her childhood, Vanna said fondly, "I rode my bike in the neighborhood. We didn't lock our front doors at the time. It was a very simple life."

When Vanna was 10, she was recuperating from an appendix operation and watching the war series "The Rat Patrol" when her mother pointed out, "That's your uncle Christopher George on TV." It was an "aha moment" for the youngster. She explained:

"And that stuck with me. I thought: 'Wow, I have an uncle on TV. I wanna be on TV.'"

Years later, Vanna was living in Los Angeles and returned to her hometown to visit her mom, who was dying from ovarian cancer in 1980. "Nothing's better [than] a mother's love," she wrote on Mother's Day 2019. The tribute came years after she called Joan "the best mother ever!"

Joan Marie Rosich's Second Husband Lived to a Ripe Old Age

"It is with great sadness that I tell you my 96-year-old dad passed away peacefully this morning," Vanna tweeted on April 1, 2022, with a photograph of her and her dad leaning in together. The mother of two added:

"He lived a full and happy life and will be remembered as one of the kindest and most wonderful human beings of North Myrtle Beach."

"I love you so much, dad. RIP," the television personality concluded. She punctuated the message with the hangtags "love" and "best dad ever."

The elder White worked in North Myrtle Beach's real estate industry well into his late eighties and also starred in the indie film "A Chess Player" with Chip and Chips' son. Vanna White is an executive producer of her brother's company, White Ideas, which made the movie.