Wilkos graduated from Lake Shore High School in
St. Clair Shores, Michigan near Detroit in 1989. Wilkos attended
Wayne State University with a major in
journalism. Her television career started with a local morning show called
Kelly & Company in 1994 as an intern. She later moved up to associate producer. Shortly after her promotion, she left the program to join
Jerry Springer. She and her husband have two children, a daughter named Ruby (born 2003) and a son named Jack (born 2005). They resided in
Park Ridge, Illinois until 2009 before production of
Jerry Springer and
Wilkos moved to
Stamford, Connecticut. Steve has told audience members before tapings that he and his family now reside in
Fairfield County, Connecticut. In April 2020, Wilkos was reportedly being treated for breast cancer, and her father was hospitalized due to
COVID-19. By the following November, her breast cancer prognosis improved; her father had passed. ==References==