Piper Kerman Net Worth

What is Piper Kerman's Net Worth?

Piper Kerman is an American author and justice reform advocate who has a net worth of $5 million. Piper Kerman is best known for writing the 2010 memoir "Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison," which was adapted into the award-winning Netflix series that ran from 2013 to 2019. Since leaving prison, Kerman has spoken publicly as an advocate for women inmates and worked with a number of nonprofits focused on US justice reform.

Early Life and Education

Piper Kerman was born on September 28, 1969 in Boston, Massachusetts. After graduating from Swampscott High School in 1987, she went to Smith College in Northampton. Kerman graduated from Smith in 1992.

Criminal Conviction and Imprisonment

In 1993, Kerman became romantically involved with a heroin dealer named Catherine Wolters, and subsequently began laundering money for her international drug operation. Five years later, Kerman was indicted on charges of money laundering and drug trafficking, charges to which she pled guilty. Sentenced to 15 months in prison, she ultimately served 13 months from 2004 to 2005 at three different federal prisons. While in prison, Kerman ran a website called the Pipe Bomb on which she documented her experiences.

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Orange is the New Black

In 2010, Kerman published her memoir "Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison." The memoir chronicles her involvement with Catherine Wolters, named Nora Jansen in the book, and her criminal conviction and time spent in prison. In 2013, the book was adapted by Jenji Kohan into the Netflix series "Orange is the New Black," starring Taylor Schilling as a fictionalized version of Kerman. Others in the large ensemble cast included Laura Prepon, Michelle Hurst, Kate Mulgrew, Uzo Aduba, Jason Biggs, Danielle Brooks, Natasha Lyonne, and Dascha Polanco. "Orange is the New Black" was an enormous hit, running for seven seasons through 2019 and becoming Netflix's longest-running original series. It won a surfeit of accolades during its run, including Emmy, SAG, and PGA Awards.

(Photo by Robin Marchant/Getty Images)

Public Speaking and Advocacy

Since her time in prison, Kerman has done public speaking and advocacy focused on women in prison. A member of the board of the Women's Prison Association, she has spoken to students studying criminology, gender, law, and sociology, and to groups made up of public defenders, probation officers, justice reform advocates, and current and former inmates. Kerman has also testified before Congress on issues related to the federal prison system. In 2015, she began working as a communications strategist for non-profit groups. Kerman serves on the advisory boards of such groups as the PEN America Writing for Justice Fellowship, Healing Broken Circles, and InsideOUT Writers. She has also taught writing courses at the Marion Correctional Institution and the Ohio Reformatory for Women, both in Ohio.

Personal Life

Having identified as a lesbian for most of her youth, Kerman came out at the age of 18. She later began identifying as bisexual, and in 2006 she married author and Smith Magazine publisher Larry Smith. Kerman has lived in Ohio and Northern California.

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