When a Fox TV show exposed the secrets of magicians in the 1990s, it had people in an uproar. The show was called “Breaking the Magician’s Code: Magic’s Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed”, and caught the attention of many people, who were split between those who were ecstatic to find out how so many classic magic tricks and illusions worked, and those who were upset that someone had revealed them.
The Masked Magician’s identity revelation as Val Valentino in the show’s last episode was one great TV moment, which gained him the media’s attention for good and bad.
Though more than two decades have passed since the Masked Magician turned the magic world upside down, his audience still wonders wha happened to him after the show, and whether he ever managed to recover the respect of his fellow magicians. What about his personal life? Keep with us to find out!
What Is He Doing Now?
It’s been a long time since “Breaking The Magician’s Code” premiered on Fox in 1997, but the impeccable atmosphere of the show added to the controversy it created, and made it unforgettable regardless of the passing of time. However, the lack of further appearances by Val Valentino on American TV in the 2000s and 2010s, has led people to believe that he either retired or that something happened to him.
While the magician’s community in the US has split opinions about Val, he’s found success in other parts of the world. These days he’s mostly based in Brazil, where he makes many TV appearances both as a personality and as a magician. His success in the Latin American country isn’t very surprising, given that Val first rose to fame there when he starred in magic-centered shows in the late 1990s as Mister M.
Regarding his personal life, Val became engaged to a Brazilian influencer named Flavia Regina Romani in December 2024. He’s also a cancer survivor.
To keep up to date with Val Valentino’s whereabouts, you can follow him on his active Instagram account @/misterm
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Health Update
Much to the shock of those who lost track of Val Valentino’s whereabouts in recent years, he dealt with terminal prostate cancer. He first revealed his illness in 2016 ,but refrained from offering further details except that he was given one-year life expectancy.
Later in 2017, a health update from Val revealed that he needed his fans’ support to fight for his life. According to him, he’d refused to follow traditional chemotherapy treatment as he feared the secondary effects it could have on him, despite the ominous predictions that his doctor gave him.
On top of that, Val also affirmed that he had been having health problems for four years before being diagnosed with prostate cancer, though he hadn’t wanted to show his physical appearance until 2017, when he and a Brazilian friend started a funding campaign to help him with his treatment. As he affirmed back then: ‘I didn’t want to show my face because I’ve gotten older. I’m too thin’; the doctors want me to gain more weight, but I can’t.’
Though his funding campaign only reached 22% of its goal, Val eventually recovered.; no further details have been revealed though.
Who Is Val Valentino?
Val Valentino is a name that many fans of magic remember very well. His appearances in “Breaking The Magician’s Code” put him at the center of controversy, as some other magicians didn’t agree with his decision to reveal the truth behind many old-school tricks.
While Val caused many mixed reactions, the inherent eccentricity of his actions stopped others from getting to know about him, beyond his Masked Magician charade.
As it happens, Val Valentino’s real name is Leonard Montano. He was born on 14 June 1956 in Los Angeles, California, USA. His story with magic started when he was around five years old and learned to do some magic tricks, with the old classic ball and vase trick being the first one he mastered. As he revealed in an interview with the “Talk For Two” podcast, he came from a ‘broken house’, so he used a lot of his free time to explore what he defines as ‘visualization’ in his early life.
Performing just came naturally for Val, who eventually started performing at school, and in local and nationwide events. At some point, he moved to Las Vegas, where he found success as a performer, and landed some TV appearances.
Life On & After TV
By the mid-1990s, Val had set foot on stage at the Sands Hotel, Las Vegas Hilton, The Plaza Hotel, and many others. It was at that point that he was contacted by some Fox producers to appear in a TV show in which he’d reveal the secrets behind the tricks that many illusionists and magicians did up to that point.
While Val agreed to appear as the Masked Magician in the special four-episode series “Breaking the Magician’s Code: Magic’s Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed”, he did it by agreeing to show only old tricks. By the time he revealed his true identity in the last special, he’d ready gained a fair number of both fans and detractors.
In the latter group were those who didn’t appreciate that he’d broke his profession’s code. However, in the show, Val argued that he did it to encourage others to better their tricks, and come up with new ideas. Another interview with The Los Angeles Times had Val revealing that he’d lost communication with fellow magicians at some point, and that he was yet to find out whether he still could normally work as a magician.
In 2002, another “Breaking the Magician’s Code” special episode was aired, then eight years passed before a revival series of 13 episodes was aired on MyNetworkTV.
The Future
Despite the premiere of new episodes of his worldwide famous show throughout the 2000s, the truth is that not everything went smoothly for Val Valentino after that. For a start, “Breaking the Magician’s Code” gained Fox a lawsuit from a magician named Robert Rice, who claimed that he’d created a character named The Masked Magician in 1985.
According to the lawsuit, the concept of his character revealed the truth of magic tricks, though the case was eventually dismissed given that copyright laws don’t cover magic performances. According to The Los Angeles Times, several other people came forward with lawsuits against Fox and Valentino.
In 2016, Val also admitted that he’d received threats from magicians in Brazil after the uproar over this segment of a local TV show called “Fantastico”. Nevertheless, Val overcame all of this these to not only expand his brand to said country, but also to perform in several TV specials in Japan.
All in all, Val Valentino has been quite a divisive figure in the magic performance world, but there’s no denying that his work has also gained him the appreciation of thousands in the audience.
