Bill Handel was born in Brazil, the son of Leo and Nahama Handel. Leo Handel was a Polish Jew who had hidden in a Jesuit monastery and lived as a priest during World War II. Much of the Handel family lost their lives in the Holocaust. Leo applied to enter the US, but was forced to wait for eleven years, during which time he lived in Brazil where he met and married his wife, Nahama, a dentist. Bill emigrated to the US with his family when he was six and was sworn in as a US citizen at the age of eleven.
Handel is an attorney by trade, a graduate of Cal State Northridge and obtained his J.D. from Whittier Law School. Handel is married to Marjorie, and has twin daughters named Pamela and Barbara. At one point extremely overweight, he underwent bariatric surgery at Centinela Freeman Hospital to lose weight. Handel's experiences with this surgical procedure have been thoroughly documented in a series of segments on his morning radio show. Handel has also openly discussed his previous drug addiction.
In addition to his work in radio, Handel is the director of the Center for Surrogate Parenting , a company specializing in in vitro fertilization, egg donation, and surrogate parenting. Before beginning his talk radio career, he provided legal counsel for some of the ground breaking cases establishing the bounds of the field, including the writing of the second surrogate parenting contract ever written, and helping establish many of the legal precedents of surrogate parenting.
He also briefly hosted a television show, Judge For Yourself, which was canceled due to low ratings and the lack of time in Handel's schedule. Judge For Yourself was unique in that it solicited comments from a 900 number, whose results would be broadcast on the next day's show.