Megyn Marie Kelly (/ˈmeɪɡən/; born November 18, 1970)[2] is an American journalist and media personality.[3] She currently hosts a talk show and podcast, The Megyn Kelly Show, that airs live daily on the Triumph channel on
SiriusXM. She was a talk show host at
Fox News from 2004 to 2017 and a host and correspondent with
NBC News from 2017 to 2018. She is also active in posting to her
Instagram page and
YouTube channel.
During her time at Fox News, Kelly hosted America Live and, before that, co-hosted America's Newsroom with
Bill Hemmer. From 2007 to 2012, the two reporters hosted Fox News Channel's New Year's Eve specials. Kelly also hosted The Kelly File from October 2013 to January 2017. In 2014, she was included in the TIME list of the
100 most influential people. Kelly left Fox News in January 2017 and joined NBC News. She started hosting the third hour of the
morning showToday with her program titled Megyn Kelly Today in September 2017. The show was cancelled in October 2018 after a segment discussing
blackface, and she left the network in January 2019.
Early life
Kelly was born in
Champaign, Illinois,[4][5] to Edward Francis Kelly, Ed.D.,[6] who taught in the School of Education at the
State University of New York at Albany, and Linda (née DeMaio), a homemaker.[7] She is of Italian and German descent on her mother's side and Irish descent on her father's.[7] She was raised
Catholic.[8] Her father died of a heart attack in 1985 when she was 15 years old.[9][10]
Kelly was an
associate attorney in the Chicago office of
law firm Bickel & Brewer LLP. In fall 1996, she co-wrote an article, "The Conflicting Roles of Lawyer as Director", for the
American Bar Association's journal, Litigation.[15] She later worked at
Jones Day for nine years, where one of her clients was the
credit bureauExperian.[16]
Television career
Early career
In 2003, Kelly moved to
Washington, D.C., where she was hired by the
ABC affiliate
WJLA-TV as a general assignment reporter.[10] She covered national and local events, including live coverage of the confirmation hearings for U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Samuel Alito and Chief Justice
John G. Roberts, the retirement of Justice
Sandra Day O'Connor, the death of Chief Justice
William Rehnquist, and the
2004 presidential election.[17]CNN president
Jonathan Klein later said he regretted not hiring Kelly as a reporter at the beginning of her career, because she was "the one talent you'd want to have from somewhere else".[18]
2004–2017: Fox News
In 2004, Kelly applied for a job at
Fox News.[17] She contributed legal segments for Special Report with Brit Hume and hosted her own legal segment, Kelly's Court, during Weekend Live. She appeared in a weekly segment on The O'Reilly Factor and occasionally filled in for
Greta Van Susteren on On the Record, where most of her reporting focused on legal and political matters. She occasionally contributed as an anchor, but more often as a substitute anchor on weekends.[19] On February 1, 2010, Kelly began hosting her own two-hour afternoon show, America Live, which replaced The Live Desk.[20][21] She was a guest panelist on Fox News' late-night satire program Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld. In 2010, viewership for America Live increased by 20%, averaging 1,293,000 viewers, and increased by 4% in the 25–54 age demographic, averaging 268,000 viewers.[22] In December 2010, Kelly hosted a New Year's Eve special with
Bill Hemmer.[23]
Kelly received media attention for her coverage of the results of the
2012 United States presidential election. On election night, Fox News'
decision desk projected that Obama would win the state of
Ohio along with a second term after part of the results had been released. In response to
Karl Rove's opposition to this projection, Kelly walked backstage to the decision desk on camera and spoke with them; she also asked Rove, "Is this just math that you do as a
Republican to make yourself feel better? Or is this real?"[24][25][26][27]
In December 2013, Kelly commented on a Slate article on The Kelly File: "For all you kids watching at home, Santa just is white, but this person is just arguing that maybe we should also have a black Santa," adding, "But Santa is what he is, and just so you know, we're just debating this because someone wrote about it." Kelly also said that
Jesus was a white man later in the segment.[31] Soon after,
Jon Stewart,[32]Stephen Colbert,[33]Rachel Maddow,[34]Josh Barro,[35] and others satirized her remarks.[36] Two days later, she said on the air that her original comments were "
tongue-in-cheek",[37][38][39][40][41] and that the skin color of Jesus is "far from settled".[42]
In June 2015, Kelly interviewed
Jim Bob Duggar and Michelle Duggar of 19 Kids and Counting regarding their son
Josh Duggar's alleged molestation of five girls in 2002. She later interviewed two of their daughters, Jill and Jessa. This show's Nielsen national estimates ratings of 3.09 million viewers, above its average 2.11 million, ranked with the 3.2 million for the
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 shootdown coverage and 7.3 million for the
Ferguson riots coverage.[43]
In the
Republican Party presidential debate on August 6, 2015, Kelly asked then-presidential candidate
Donald Trump whether a man of his temperament ought to be elected president, noting that he has called various women insulting names in the past.[44] Kelly's moderating generated a range of media and political reactions and her professionalism was criticized by Trump.[45][46][47][48] Kelly responded to Trump's criticism by saying she would not "apologize for doing good journalism".[49] Trump declined to attend the
Iowa January 28 debate that she moderated.[50] After the debate and off-camera,
Ted Cruz said that Kelly had referred to Trump off-camera as "
Voldemort", though Fox News denied it.[51]Bill Maher complimented Kelly as being "so much better" than the candidates who attended the January 28 debate and argued that she was a more viable candidate for the Republican nomination.[52]
In an interview with CBS News Sunday Morning, Kelly reflected that she was disappointed with the lack of support she received from coworker
Bill O'Reilly and
CNN, the latter airing a Trump event the same time as the debate.[53][54] In April, at her request,[55] Kelly met with Trump at
Trump Tower, having "a chance to clear the air".[56] The following month, after interviewing Trump and being met with mixed reception,[57] she expressed interest in doing another one with him.[58] In June, she criticized Trump for his claims against judge
Gonzalo P. Curiel's impartiality.[59] In October, a contentious discussion between Kelly and
Newt Gingrich on The Kelly File regarding Trump's sexual comments in a
2005 audio recording gained widespread social media reaction.[60]
In March 2016, it was announced that Kelly would host a one-hour prime time special on the
Fox network wherein she would interview celebrities from the worlds of "politics, entertainment, and other areas of human interest".[61] The special aired in May 2016, which was a
sweeps month.[62] It acquired 4.8 million viewers, but placed third in the ratings.[63]Gabriel Sherman wrote of the stakes for Kelly as "high", elaborating that with Kelly being in the final year of her contract with Fox and having confirmed her ambitions, "[t]he special was essentially a public interview for her next job."[64]
In July 2016, amid allegations of sexual harassment on the part of Fox News CEO
Roger Ailes, Kelly was reported to have confirmed that she herself was also subjected to his harassment.[65][66] Two days after the report, Ailes resigned from Fox News and his lawyer,
Susan Estrich, publicly denied the charge.[67]
During her coverage of the
2016 Republican National Convention, her attire received criticism.[68] In a defense of Kelly, Jenavieve Hatch of The Huffington Post commented, "If you're a woman on national television reporting on a political event from hot, humid Cleveland, wearing a weather-appropriate outfit makes you the target of an endless stream of sexist commentary."[69] In September, it was reported that Kelly would be collaborating with
Michael De Luca to produce Embeds, a scripted comedy about reporters covering politics, to be aired on a streaming service.[70][71]
Kelly appeared on the cover of the February 2016 issue of Vanity Fair.[72] In 2016, she was an honoree for Variety's Power of Women for her addressing
child abuse.[73]
2017–2018: NBC News
In late 2016, Kelly was rumored to be actively considering other news networks aside from Fox News, since her contract was a few months from expiring.[74][75] In January 2017, The New York Times reported that she would leave Fox News for a "triple role" at
NBC News, which would include a daytime talk show, a Sunday-night newsmagazine, and becoming a correspondent for major news events and political coverage.[76][77] She departed Fox News on January 6, 2017, after the last episode of The Kelly File was aired.[78][79] In January 2017, People quoted an unspecified source that Kelly remained under a
non-compete clause with Fox until July 2017 which would prevent her from working for a competitor until the clause expired, unless it would be canceled prior.[80]
Kelly was being paid reportedly between $15 million and $20 million a year at NBC.[88] After an initial run of eight episodes in the summer of 2017, NBC decided to bring her newsmagazine show Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly back for summer 2018 after a hiatus for football and the Winter Olympics, but only periodically. However, this return never materialized.[89][90] Instead, Kelly continued to report stories for Dateline NBC during the summer of 2018, continuing her work for the show which she joined in 2017.[91]
On October 23, 2018, Kelly was criticized for on-air remarks she made on Megyn Kelly Today related to the appropriateness of
blackface as part of
Halloween costumes. She recollected that "when I was a kid, that was okay as long as you were dressing up like a character", and defended
Luann de Lesseps's use of skin darkening spray to portray
Diana Ross.[92] After receiving backlash for her comments, Kelly issued an internal email apologizing for the remarks later that day.[93] On October 26, 2018, NBC canceled Megyn Kelly Today.[94] It had been reported that Kelly was considering ending the program to focus on her role as a correspondent.[95] Her employment was terminated on January 11, 2019, and she was paid the $30 million due for the remainder of her contract.[96][97][98]
2020–present: Sirius XM
Kelly announced the launch of Devil May Care Media, her media production company, on September 10, 2020, with a podcast, The Megyn Kelly Show.[99] Its first episode premiered on September 28.[100]
On July 6, 2021, it was announced that the podcast would move to
Sirius XM on September 7, 2021, to broadcast weekdays at 12 noon ET on the talk radio channel Triumph, along with a video simulcast available to Sirius XM subscribers.[101]
In early 2023, Kelly teased that she had to join
SAG-AFTRA for an upcoming secret project. On November 30, 2023, she revealed on her show that she had been working with
The Daily Wire and would be starring in a new adult animated comedy series called "Mr. Birchum." Kelly is set to star alongside notable names such as
Danny Trejo,
Roseanne Barr, and
Adam Carolla. The show is scheduled to debut in early 2024.[102][103]
In February 2016, Kelly signed an agreement with
HarperCollins to write an autobiography scheduled for release later that year, in a deal worth more than $10 million.[107][108][109] The book, titled Settle for More, was released on November 15, 2016.[110][111]
Accolades
In 2009, Kelly received an award from
Childhelp for her work as a Fox News anchor covering the subject of child abuse.[112]
Kelly was honored with an Alumni Achievement Award from the Albany Law School in 2010 for her 15th class reunion.[113]
Kelly said she was not consulted for the film's content.[117] However, after viewing a screening of the film, Kelly held a roundtable discussion with other involved parties such as
Juliet Huddy,
Rudi Bakhtiar,
Douglas Brunt, and former Fox News producer Julie Zann. Kelly confirmed and denied several moments in the film, while describing the film overall as an emotional experience for her.[118][119]
Personal life
Kelly married Daniel Kendall, an
anesthesiologist, in 2001. The marriage ended in divorce in 2006.[120]
In 2008, she married
Douglas Brunt, who was then president and CEO of the cybersecurity firm
Authentium,[121] and who became a full-time writer and novelist.[122] They have three children.[123][124][125] All three children were conceived through
in vitro fertilization.[126][127] The family lives in Connecticut during the school year, and have a waterfront New Jersey home for the summer.[128]
On October 12, 2016, Kelly stated in a segment on her show with Fox News commentator
Julie Roginsky that she is a lifelong
Catholic.[129] Kelly has appeared at a fundraiser for parental rights organization
Moms for Liberty.[130]
Political views
Politically, Kelly identifies as an
independent, and told Variety in 2015 that she had voted for both Democrats and Republicans.[131]
In June 2023, Kelly explained why she had changed her position on "
preferred pronouns" from being for them to being against them.[136] She had also began to express
anti-transgender material, especially against
LGBT+ figures such as
Dylan Mulvaney, referring to Mulvaney's "mockery of womanhood and girlhood";[137]Kris Tyson, who was repeatedly
misgendered by Kelly in a response to Tyson coming out as a
transgender woman in an interview with
Anthony Padilla;[138] and the writers of the Transformers: EarthSpark kids show, calling them "disgusting" for showcasing a
non-binarycharacter.[139] In an interview, Megyn Kelly criticized
Rachel Levine, saying the doctor is ‘the farthest thing I’ve seen from a woman in a long time.’ 'He was unattractive as a male, outrageous as a female'.[140]
^Kelly, Edward Francis. "Curriculum Evaluation and Literary Criticism: The Explication of an Analogy." Ed.D. dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1971.
^Lewis, Andy (February 4, 2015).
"Megyn Kelly Signs Book Deal". The Hollywood Reporter.
Archived from the original on December 2, 2019. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
^Saslow, Linda (March 16, 2008).
"Megyn Kelly and Douglas Brunt". The New York Times.
Archived from the original on February 22, 2017. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
^Zuckerman, Joshua (August 10, 2011).
"Megyn Kelly Shares Photo of Daughter Yardley". People.
Archived from the original on June 7, 2017. Retrieved June 8, 2017. ...joining big brother Edward Yates, 22 months. 'Yates was [my husband] Doug's father's name, and we felt we needed a strong name to match it,' Kelly, 40, tells People of their name choice.
^Rovzar, Chris (April 14, 2011).
"Megyn Kelly Gives Birth to Baby Girl". New York.
Archived from the original on September 22, 2018. Retrieved June 8, 2017. The popular host of Fox News' America Live just gave birth to a girl named Yardley Evans, substitute host Martha MacCallum just announced.
^"Multiple women accuse Trump of bad behavior". Fox News (Transcript). October 12, 2016.
Archived from the original on October 14, 2016. Retrieved October 14, 2016. But I'm Catholic. I've lived as a Catholic my whole life, but I haven't heard my fellow Catholics speak so snidely about our faith, other than in this email.