Megyn Kelly is an American journalist, political commentator, and lawyer, who was best known for her work as a talk show host for the Fox News channel between 2004 to 2017. In her work for Fox News, Megyn introduced “America Live”, and before that she co-hosted America’s Newsroom with Bill Hemmer.
From 2007 to 2012, the two journalists presented the channel’s New Year’s Eve specials, “All American New Year”. Megyn was also a presenter for “The Kelly File”, from October 2013 to January 2017. In 2014, she was included by Time magazine in the list of the 100 most influential people in the country.
Megyn Kelly left Fox News in January 2017 and went to NBC News, where she hosted one of the blocks from the Today morning show, Megyn Kelly Today, which was canceled in October 2018. Megyn left the channel in January 2019.
Facts About Megyn Kelly
- Born: 18 November 1970, Champaign, Illinois, U. S.
- Other names: Megyn Kendall
- Age: 51 Years Old
- Height: 1.68 meters
- Weight: 143 Pounds
- Occupation: Talk Show Host, Political commentator, Lawyer
- Religion: Catholic Christian
- Husband: Douglas Brunt (m. 2008), Daniel Kendall (m. 2001–2006)
- Children: Yardley Evans Brunt, Thatcher Bray Brunt, Edward Yates Brunt
- Father: Edward Kelly
- Mother: Linda Kelly
- Quotes: Nobody really knows my true feelings on a lot of issues.
- Net Worth: $45 million (as of 2022)
Megyn Kelly Biography
Megyn Kelly was born on November 18, 1970, in Champaign (Illinois, USA) in a family of Irish descent, and grew up in Syracuse, in the same state. She is the daughter of Edward Kelly and Linda Kelly When Megyn was 15, her father died of a heart attack, and her mother later remarried.
Megyn has an older brother, Pete Kelly, who lives in Atlanta, and a sister, Susan Crossley, who is an unmarried mother of three.
Megyn attended Tecumseh Elementary School, in DeWitt (New York). At the age of 9, his family moved to Albany (New York) in the suburb of Delmar, where he attended Bethlem Central High School.
After graduating from high school, he earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Syracuse University and, in 1995, a law degree from Albany Law School. Kelly declares herself a Catholic.
Personal Life
In 2001, Megyn married Daniel Kendall, an anesthesiologist, but the couple divorced in 2006. Megyn Kelly husband? In 2008, she married the CEO of cybersecurity firm Authentium, Douglas Brunt, who is now a full-time writer. The couple had three children:
- Yardley Evans Brunt (Born in 2011)
- Edward Yates Brunt (Born in 2009)
- Thatcher Bray Brunt (Born in 2013)
Television Career
Fox News
In 2004, the journalist joined Fox News, hosted the legal segment on Special Reporting with Brit Hum and her own column, Kelly’s Court on Weekend Live. Has appeared in the weekly segments of Bill O’Reilly’s Factor and on Greta Van Susteren’s Political and Legal Recordings. Sometimes she was the presenter, but more often she replaced colleagues on weekends.
On February 1, 2010, Kelly began hosting her own daytime show, America Live, replacing Live Board. She was a guest on Fox News’ late-night satirical program Red Eye with/Greg Gutfeld. In 2010, America’s live audience grew by 20%, reaching an average of 1,293,000 people, and the share in the 25-54 age segment increased by 4%, reaching an average of 268,000 people.
In December 2010, along with Bill Hemmer Megyn Kelly became the leader of a special New Year’s broadcast. In March 2016 it became known that Kelly would take for the cable network Fox weekly interview duration of one hour in prime time with celebrities from the world of “political, economic and other spheres of human interest”.
The broadcast began in May, considered an inconvenient month for premieres on television, the program managed to attract 4.8 million viewers and secured third place in ratings. In July 2016, Kelly identified herself as one of the victims of sexual harassment by Fox News CEO Roger Isles. Isles left the station two days later, receiving compensation.
Kelly’s work during the 2016 Republican National Convention has generated mixed reactions. In September, it became known about Kelly’s collaboration with Michael De Luca on the script for the Embeds comedy, dedicated to political journalists, intended for the streaming service.
By the end of the year, in the conditions of the expiration of the contract, the journalist began to consider proposals from other television networks. In January 2017, The New York Times reported on its plans to leave Fox News for the NBC News, where she was destined to own a daytime show and the news show deep Sunday evening along with the participation in the coverage of the main political and news events.
It was reported that a new day program will take place in the third hour of the program, the Today. The journalist left Fox News on January 6, 2017, following the release of the last episode of The Kelly File. In January 2017, People, citing an unnamed source, reported on the existence of a competition agreement barring Kelly from working in competing media until July.
NBC News
In June 2017, she moderated the plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum with the participation of Russian President Vladimir Putin. After the forum, Kelly took him an exclusive interview for NBC News, which became her first work on this channel.
For the second time, Russian President Vladimir Putin answered Megyn Kelly’s questions on March 1 in the Kremlin and on March 2, 2018, in Kaliningrad. Since October 25, 2018, the management of the NBC News channel has stopped her participation in filming on television due to the fact that on October 23, 2018, she released several comments on the Halloween makeup, which the management considered racist.
The reason for her dismissal from NBC was the phrase about Blackface makeup, which, when applied, makes the face dark-skinned (in the United States, this makeup has been used for decades in theatrical scenes to ridicule African Americans). On the air of the popular talk show, Kelly said that the use of such makeup is now acceptable during Halloween and is not racist.
“Where is the racism here? But there will definitely be problems if you are a white person and do a black face on Halloween, or if you are black and make your face white for this holiday. In my childhood, it was okay, but only if you dressed up as a certain character.”, – expressed her point of view Megan Kelly.
Negotiations on the date of the end of cooperation are under consideration. For the early termination of the contract as compensation, she intends to demand from 50 to 70 million dollars.
According to TMZ, the journalist received $15 million a year, and the term of her current contract was supposed to end only after 1 year and 10 months. The TV presenter’s lawyer Brian Friedman intends to oblige the television company to pay Kelly all her salary.
The head of the directorate of information programs of the First Channel of Russia, the host of the Vremya program, Kirill Kleimenov, offered Megyn Kelly to work in Russia as a TV presenter on October 27, 2018, [source not specified for 326 days].
In January 2019, the NBC website reported that Kelly received $ 30 million upon her dismissal. Megyn Kelly and the channel’s management have finally agreed on the terms of termination of the contract: “The parties have resolved their differences, and Megyn Kelly is no longer an employee of NBC,” – said in an official statement. The journalist herself demanded $50 million from the management of NBC.
Megyn Kelly Quotes
- I have respect for my fellow journalists at the other networks, and I wish them all well. This is a tough business, so good for them.
- Just because you might have a sparring match on the air doesn’t mean there’s any personal animosity.
- Television is a service, but it’s also a business.
- A lot of liberals don’t believe in American exceptionalism, but it doesn’t mean they don’t love America.
- Some things are worth the fat and calories, although I have to watch it like a hawk.
- I don’t even watch Fox News usually in the prime time hours because I’m home with my kids and that’s more important to me.
- As a lawyer, I could engage in killer litigation with the best of them. It was war, after all.