The Sad Struggles Cesar Millan Faced Off Camera

There is something almost mystical about people who have a gift with animals. Movies like "Horse Whisperer" and "Free Willy" may have contributed to the sensationalization of people who can seemingly "talk" to animals. Meanwhile, debate runs hot about whether there is a science to animal talking, or if it's more spiritual. Perhaps that is why Cesar Millan captivated audiences across the globe through his hit T.V. show "Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan." People tuned in to watch the dog trainer work his magic, training and modifying the behaviors of aggressive dogs, often saving them from being re-homed or even euthanized.

After his show went off air, "dog whisperer" Cesar Millan went on to star in more T.V. series, including "Cesar Millan's Leader of the Pack" and "Cesar Millan's Dog Nation," and he also wrote three New York Times bestselling books. To this day, many people still subscribe to his methodology for training and connecting with dogs. For many people, he is, and always will be, the "dog whisperer." However, not everyone is very familiar with his offscreen life.

Millan has faced many struggles throughout his life. It was an uphill journey to pursue his dream of working with dogs, and even after he achieved it, he almost lost everything amid personal and professional trials. Let's dig into some of Cesar Millan's sad struggles.

Cesar Millan was born and raised in rural Mexico. He grew up on a farm in Sinaloa, where he first became acquainted with animals. He had a close relationship with his grandparents, who helped raise him, per Cesar Millan's YouTube channel. While he enjoyed the farm, his family struggled with poverty, and his home had no running water or electricity. During his early years, he did not recognize that his family was low-income. Economically, they were not wealthy, but he felt rich because he got to be with family. He said, "You know, I just never felt poor."

However, as he grew older, he faced bullying from other children for his low-income background and love of dogs. His family eventually moved to Mazatlán, trading the rural farm for city life so Millan could attend school. Despite leaving the farm behind, he still loved animals. Mazatlán is rife with street dogs, and they would follow Millan around.

He wrote for HuffPost, "I was bullied in Mexico because I was poor and called an el perrero — the 'dirty dog boy.' They made fun of me because dogs followed me around and they thought I was dirty and had fleas and ticks. I didn't realize until I came to America that having dogs follow me around might be a good thing." The bullying wasn't easy for him to endure, but he credits his mother's encouragement for helping him pursue his dream.

When he was a boy, Cesar Millan says his mother believed in him and encouraged him to follow his dream of working with dogs, notes HuffPost. However, his family didn't have money for veterinary school, per Yahoo! Entertainment. While vet school was out, he had another idea. Watching shows like "Lassie" and "The Adventures of Rin-Tin-Tin," he began to dream of being a dog trainer, and he recognized the best environment to pursue this dream was Hollywood, he noted on Facebook.

Seeing no other way to get there, he decided to cross the border as an undocumented immigrant. He was 21 when he told his mother, "I'm leaving... I'm going to America. I have to go right now," (via Page Six). His family sent him with $100 to make the journey. He took a two-day bus ride to the border.

To save his $100 and still eat, he'd let the American border patrol capture him because they'd feed him in detention. Other times, he went hungry and, during the trip, he feared becoming a victim of crime. Millan explained, "You can get killed in the border anytime, any second. You can be sold for organs. You can be grabbed by the cartel... but thanks to god I was protected," per Instagram. Eventually, he met a man who offered to smuggle him across the border for $100. The man delivered, getting Millan across and even giving him back $20 to catch a cab to San Diego.

Cesar Millan's journey across the border into the United States was only the beginning of his struggle to make his dream come true. In California, he had no money or place to live, struggled to communicate because he could only speak Spanish, and had no connections. He still wanted to work with dogs, but recognized he had to start from the very bottom, so he began looking for jobs cleaning kennels, per Business Insider. One of the first phrases he learned in English was, "Do you have an application for work?" (via Facebook).

For two months, he was houseless, sleeping under a freeway while working at kennels and dishwashing to save up money, notes NPR. During this time, he lived on about $1 per day in San Diego, eating one meal a day. When he saved enough money to move to Inglewood, he began walking and training dogs, earning attention for his controversial decision to walk dogs off leashes, and eventually starting his own dog-walking business. During this time, he met Jada Pinkett Smith (who had a stunning transformation), and she advised him to learn English to thrive in the T.V. industry, per Haute Living. He heeded her advice, and his dog-walking business started to take off. By 2002, his business attracted the attention of the Los Angeles Times, and the outlet's profile on him was his first big break.

Cesar Millan says he doesn't train dogs, but people. However, it turned out he needed some "training," too, to repair his marriage. Millan married Ilusion Millan in 1994, after the pair met at an ice skating rink. They embraced their cultural differences, as Cesar's upbringing was very different from her middle-class American upbringing. Together, they had two children, and Ilusion supported Cesar's dog training. However, things weren't easy. In an interview with Elle, the pair opened up about their marital struggles, which stemmed from how Cesar was raised to view women.

Ilusion told Elle, "Cesar didn't know better. He was raised that women are at the bottom of the food chain. You feed everyone else first, including the dog." Ilusion says her then-husband was verbally abusive when he didn't get what he wanted. She reached her breaking point when, shortly after the birth of their son, she had emergency gallbladder surgery and nearly lost her life. However, Cesar waited days after surgery to visit, and when he came, he was supposedly annoyed at her for being sick and went back to work one day after she got home from the hospital.

Ilusion left and refused to consider coming back unless Cesar agreed to counseling. The pair received counseling and, after six months apart, reconciled. Coincidentally, Cesar began to understand his wife better by approaching his family as he did his dogs. He told Elle, "It wasn't about me anymore. It was about the pack."

While Cesar and Ilusion Millan worked throughout their marriage to reconcile their differences, it still wasn't enough to save the relationship. In 2010, the pair announced their divorce after 16 years of marriage. Cesar released a statement on the divorce, writing, "We are sad to announce that after 16 years of marriage we have decided to file for divorce. The decision was made after much consideration and time. We remain caring friends, and are fully committed to the co-parenting of our two boys," (via People).

According to Cesar, it was Ilusion who wanted the divorce, and he did not see it coming. He said, "It was hard because I wasn't expecting it. I went into a big depression. I lost a lot of weight. And I felt that I lost the most important thing, which was my family," per E! News. The divorce also came with some financial strain, as it ended with Cesar paying a one-time amount of $400,000 to Ilusion in addition to $23,000 in spousal payment and $10,000 in child support per month. While the divorce hit him hard, he worked through his darkest time and found comfort in immersing himself in work and exercise.

He also found love again and began dating Jahira Dar in 2010. In 2016, he and Dar announced their engagement.

Cesar Millan has owned, trained, and encountered countless dogs — and Cesar Millan even offered wisdom on what to know before getting a dog. However, no dog had as lasting an impact on him as Daddy. The pit bull was 4-months-old when he first came into Millan's life after his original owner, rapper Redman, asked the dog trainer to look after him. Millan told Nat Geo Animals that Daddy struggled a bit with insecurity due to moving from between him and Redman, but he taught the dog to "trust himself." While Millan worked with many aggressive dogs in his work, Daddy was not one. He never displayed aggression and instead served as Millan's right-hand man, helping him with dog training and providing companionship and comfort. Daddy's "sensitivity" was unlike anything Millan had encountered before.

At age 10, Daddy developed cancer and underwent chemotherapy. To give the dog more stability and support, Millan officially adopted him from Redman. Daddy retired at age 14, after he and Millan selected another dog, Junior, to carry on his legacy. Sadly, on February 10, 2010, at age 16, Daddy passed away. The loss hit Millan hard, "Daddy was my Tibet, my Himalaya, my Gouda, my Buddha, my source of calmness," (via LA Times). His dog's death also occurred around the same time his marriage dissolved, resulting in a low point. He learned to honor Daddy's memory by continuing his work and helping dogs around the globe, per his YouTube channel.

Cesar Millan had a massive reality T.V. shows with "Dog Whisperer." Despite his T.V. success, Millan claims he went broke after losing $10 million to bad business decisions. Although he didn't explain what led to the losses, the financial struggles occurred in 2010 when he was already reeling from his divorce and the loss of his dog. He stated, "At the end of the day, I was left with no money. I was broke," (via Inside Edition).

Millan also learned that he didn't even own the rights to his iconic nickname, "the dog whisperer." In a later interview with Really Famous with Kara Mayer Robinson, he provided more details about the legal battle over the ownership of the name. He explained that he expected to have 50/50 ownership of the "Dog Whisperer" brand and rights. However, he claims that those behind the show didn't hold up their end of the agreement and were "dishonest." Although he lost everything, his separation from the "Dog Whisperer" turned out to be a positive, as he used the opportunity to rebuild his brand from the ground up, per Fast Company.

Cesar Millan is known as "the dog whisperer," but the show that earned him his nickname and reputation ended on rough terms. Millan ended up engaging in a long, complicated legal battle with the "Dog Whisperer" producers over alleged financial misconduct. His production company, Emery/Sumner Productions, sued the show's co-producers, MPH Entertainment, in a suit that National Geographic Channel U.S. also sought to join over allegations it was underpaid by millions of dollars, per The Wrap.

Millan also struggled with the producers over ownership of "Dog Whisperer," and after a long legal battle, he finally succeeded in securing a 50% profit-sharing arrangement. However, the battle didn't end there. His profit participant status gave him the right to audit the show's finances annually. In 2018, when his lawyers attempted to conduct the audit, the producers refused. As a result, he sued the producers to gain access to the show's financial records and sought $1 million in legal fees and damages.

Dog Whisperer Cesar Millan is full of tips for dog parents, but his own dog parenting hasn't always been smooth. Daddy was Millan's right-hand dog and could never be replaced. However, to allow Daddy to retire, Millan found a successor in Junior. Junior was another pit bull whom he and Daddy nurtured to be the protégé. He said Junior is second only to Daddy when it comes to great "teachers," per Facebook. Unfortunately, while Daddy was renowned for his calm temperament, allegations surfaced that Junior was involved in attacks on other dogs and humans.

In 2021, gymnast Lidia Matiss filed a lawsuit against Millan, accusing Junior of attacking her. Her lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, claimed that in 2017, she visited her mother, who worked for Millan, at one of Millan's training facilities. Apparently, Junior was roaming the building unsupervised and attacked her, leaving her with serious injuries that paused her gymnastics career. She claimed Millan knew Junior was dangerous because the dog previously allegedly attacked and killed one of Queen Latifah's dogs while she visited a training facility of Millan's. According to the lawsuit, Millan tried to cover up the attack by telling the rapper her dog died from being hit by a car.

Millan denied that Junior attacked Queen Latifah's dog, stating it was a "blatant lie," (via People). He also alleged that Matiss knew and accepted the potential risks of visiting his training facility. At the time of the lawsuit, Junior had already sadly passed away. In 2022, Millan settled the lawsuit with Matiss, notes Blast.

Cesar Millan's entire life has really revolved around helping dogs. He has helped rehabilitate countless dogs that were once thought "un-adoptable," allowing them to live happy lives with their families. Many dogs who otherwise would have been abandoned, returned to the shelter, or euthanized found second chances through Millan's method, which prioritizes discipline, exercise, and affection. However, over the years, the Dog Whisperer has been involved in many big controversies, leading some to claim that Millan is actually an abuser of animals.

One incident that drew particular scrutiny stemmed from an episode of "Dog Whisperer" in which a dog Millan was training attacked a pig. A petition surfaced on Change.org calling for Millan to be banned from television. The petition alleged he used the pigs as "bait" and that his methods were "inhumane." The petition gained over 10,000 supporters, and while Millan wasn't banned from T.V., he faced an investigation for animal cruelty, notes The Guardian. The investigation resulted in no charges, but Millan's methods have continued to draw scrutiny, and public opinion of him remains pretty divided.

On social media, users frequently hark back to the fact that Millan is completely self-taught and has no real credentials in dog training. His methods may have produced results, but many still point out that they are not entirely backed by research.