Since the mid-2000s, Ainsley Earhardt has risen through the Fox News ranks, but rubbing shoulders with the president is a far cry from her humble South Carolina upbringing. These days, she not only reports the news, sometimes she makes it.
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00:00Since the mid-2000s, Ainsley Earhardt has risen through the Fox News ranks. But rubbing
00:05shoulders with the president is a far cry from her humble South Carolina upbringing.
00:09These days, she not only reports the news, sometimes she makes it.
00:13Before becoming one of America's most famous conservative TV news hosts, Ainsley Earhardt
00:18dreamed of making it big in Hollywood. Speaking to Charleston.com, she said,
00:22"'Growing up, I used to watch all these movies and award shows that took place in New York
00:26and L.A. or were aired from either city and I was drawn to the glamour. At an early age,
00:30I wanted to be famous, which is why I initially thought of taking up acting.'"
00:34"'I was very involved in theater growing up, so it's nice now to perform on a national
00:38stage in front of everyone.'"
00:40When she hit her early 20s, however, Earhardt's parents convinced her she wasn't cut out for
00:44Hollywood. She does have one movie credit, though. She played herself in the 2020 TV
00:49movie Christmas in the Rockies, the first movie produced by Fox Nation. And she's also
00:53seen herself on the big screen, just perhaps not quite as she intended. In 2019, she was
00:57played by Alice Eve in Bombshell, the Oscar-nominated dramatization of the Roger Ailes scandal.
01:03"'Maddie, I have to wear pants tomorrow.'"
01:05"'Not without authorization from the second floor, you don't.'"
01:08After high school, Earhardt studied biology at Florida State University with the intention
01:13of becoming an orthodontist. Then she heard Lisa Gibbons talk about studying journalism
01:17at the University of South Carolina, transferred, and the rest is conservative news history.
01:21In an article on the school's official website, Rick Peterson, one of her former broadcast
01:26journalism professors, spoke about Earhardt, saying,
01:28"'From the very beginning, she had such a passion for the business and a strong work
01:32ethic. The first news director who visited the class and saw Ainsley's work offered her
01:36a job before the semester ended. She was a remarkable student. She had the talent and
01:40she was willing to work really hard to succeed.'"
01:42Earhardt's first on-air reporting job was on her hometown network, WLTX's 11 PM Show.
01:48After just two years of covering everything from politics to pet tigers, she was promoted
01:52to morning news anchor alongside radio DJ Curtis Wilson. But she wasn't thrilled about
01:56the change. Speaking to Columbia Metropolitan, Earhardt admitted,
01:59"...I was a hard news person. I wanted to cover the accidents and the political stories.
02:03I didn't think I was funny and didn't want to cover the fluffy pieces. I was a blonde
02:07woman and wanted to be taken seriously."
02:09But the WLTX News 19 Morning Show soon became the second most-viewed in the area, and in
02:14an interview with Elle, Wilson had nothing but kind things to say, sharing,
02:17"...How can you not like Ainsley? People might try to single her out because she works for
02:21Fox News, but no one who actually knew her then says anything negative."
02:26During a two-year stint at Texas' Ken's TV, Earhardt caught the eye of Fox News head Roger
02:30Ailes, and in 2007, he offered her a job. In the beginning, she was very much a go-getting
02:35front-line reporter, covering everything from Pope Francis' New York visit to the Deepwater
02:39Horizon oil spill during her years on the ground. And through it all, Ailes continued
02:43to champion her career, lifting her to new heights in 2016 by choosing her to replace
02:47Elizabeth Hasselbeck as co-host of Fox's flagship show, Fox & Friends.
02:51At the time, she released an official statement, reading,
02:54"...I am thrilled to join Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade on the curvy couch to deliver
02:58Americans their morning news."
02:59And judging by the ratings, Earhardt has been a hit with audiences. Speaking to the Associated
03:04Press in 2018, she explained,
03:05"...there is a need to represent Middle America, and I think we do that. With that comes the
03:09support of the president."
03:11It certainly didn't hurt that Donald Trump was such a fan that he chose Earhardt to conduct
03:15the first joint interview with him and wife Melania as president and first lady, and daughter
03:19Ivanka soon followed suit. Trump even helped promote Earhardt's memoir on X, even if he
03:23did misspell her name, tweeting,
03:25"...Ainsley Earhardt, a truly great person, just wrote a wonderful book, The Light Within
03:29Me, which is doing really well. Bring it to number one."
03:32And Earhardt has Trump's back in return. While discussing a disparaging New York Times piece
03:36about his financial fails on Fox & Friends, Earhardt countered with,
03:39"...If anything, you read this and you're like, wow, it's pretty impressive, all the
03:42things that he's done in his life. It's beyond what most of us could ever achieve."
03:47Technically speaking, she wasn't wrong.
03:50In 2018, Earhardt went viral for all the wrong reasons when referring to World War II.
03:55"...You know, we defeated communist Japan."
03:58"...Yep, communism and Japan and so many other things as well."
04:03And that wasn't the only time she made news for failing to get her facts straight. A few
04:06years later, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Earhardt completely contradicted
04:10the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's official guidelines.
04:13"...It's actually the safest time to fly."
04:16And in 2021, she was ridiculed for her lack of knowledge about two of the world's biggest
04:20religions after the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree was set on fire. Earhardt lamented,
04:24"...It's a tree that unites us, that brings us together. It is about the Christmas spirit.
04:28It is about the holiday season. It is about Jesus. It is about Hanukkah."
04:32"...A Christmas tree represents a lot of things, but one thing it definitely does not represent
04:36is Hanukkah. I mean, if it did, that tree would have had to burn for eight days."
04:41But Earhardt seemed undeterred. In a 2020 interview with E!V., she gave a verbal shrug,
04:45saying,
04:46"...I'm not always perfect. I'm far from perfect. I make mistakes. But when I do, I'm quick
04:50to say I'm sorry. I want to be that kind of person."
04:54Considering the influence he had on her career, it's probably no surprise that Earhardt felt
04:58the need to publicly defend Ailes when he found himself at the center of a sexual harassment
05:03by former anchor Gretchen Carlson in 2016. Carlson's suit and the ensuing investigation
05:07uncovered at least 20 other women alleging sexual assault by Ailes. In July of that year,
05:12he was forced to resign from Fox News.
05:14Still, Earhardt insisted to People magazine,
05:16"...I want the public to know that this is a man with a really good heart. In my experience,
05:21he has had my best interest in mind and he has my family's best interest in mind. He's
05:24just a legend. And I don't want his reputation smeared because he's worked really hard to
05:28just give all of us such a great life. He really cares about other people."
05:32Despite continued accusations that Ailes fostered a deeply misogynistic workplace, Earhardt
05:37was effusive about Ailes upon his death a year later, at the age of 77, saying,
05:41"...many people out there would say that he saved this country by starting the Fox News
05:44channel."
05:45Nowadays, Ainsley Earhardt might be better known for sitting behind a news desk or on
05:50a sofa discussing events from her highly conservative perspective. But she does get to leave the
05:54Fox studio from time to time. In fact, she's often flown to Buckingham Palace to report
05:58on various royal family events, including Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding,
06:02the Platinum Jubilee celebration, and the death of Queen Elizabeth II. And going back
06:06to her reporting roots, Earhardt relishes the opportunity she gets to spread her wings,
06:11telling South,
06:12"...some days you'll have your show, and then you'll have a couple interviews after. Or
06:14you have to jump on a plane to go to Washington to interview the president. Or you have to
06:18fly to do Super Bowl coverage in Miami. You always have to have your backs packed and
06:22be ready to say, yes, I'll go."
06:24Earhardt showed she's a woman of many talents in 2016 when she published a children's
06:28picture book that raced to the top of the New York Times bestseller list, Take Heart,
06:32My Child, A Mother's Dream. Proving that it wasn't a fluke, she followed it up with 2017's
06:36Through Your Eyes, My Child's Gift to Me, and 2022's I'm So Glad You Were Born, Celebrating
06:41Who You Are.
06:42When I was growing up, my mother on our birthdays would say, I'm so glad you were born, and
06:47that was her message to us."
06:49As a devout Christian, each of her books is filled with faith-affirming themes. In an
06:53interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, Earhardt reflected on her purpose,
06:56saying,
06:57"'I feel like God chose me for this position because he wanted me to be bold and wanted
07:01me to share the gospel, and Fox allows that. And now with these children's books, sharing
07:05the message to children, to the next generation, which is so important, is just such an honor."
07:09Earhardt continued to write about what her faith means to her in her 2018 memoir, The
07:13Light Within Me, telling Publishers Weekly,
07:15"'When I realize I've come through so much, good and bad, because of my relationship with
07:19Christ, I can't hide that light within me. I want to be honest about my faith, but not
07:23preachy, for my viewers and my readers.'"
07:26In 2005, Earhardt married her college sweetheart, medical entrepreneur Kevin McKinney, but the
07:31couple divorced in 2009 amid rumors of infidelity. Then, in 2012, Earhardt married William Proctor,
07:36a financier and former Clemson University quarterback.
07:40After a tragic miscarriage, Earhardt and Proctor had a daughter, Hayden, in the summer of 2015,
07:44and the new addition made her Fox & Friends debut just a few months later. Speaking to
07:48Yahoo! Life, Earhardt admitted that motherhood can be tough, saying,
07:51"'You have those long days where your child won't go to sleep and you're exhausted, and
07:55you're trying your hardest not to lose your cool, but those days are still worth it. I
07:59would much rather have those days than not have days at all.'"
08:02"'She must be bionic. Apparently she does not need sleep.'"
08:05Unfortunately, seven years after marrying Proctor, Earhardt was headed back to divorce
08:09court. Although the New York Post initially reported that Proctor's cheating caused the
08:13split, Proctor denied it, saying,
08:14"'I am disappointed that this private matter has become public. I remain focused on and
08:19committed to being the best dad and maintaining a friendship with my wife even though she
08:22has decided to move on. I am devastated about this situation, and did not envision this
08:27for the future of our family.'"
08:29Tongue started wagging in 2020 when Earhardt began broadcasting from the basement studio
08:33at Sean Hannity's Long Island home during the pandemic lockdown. And the rumor mill
08:37really got going when they attended the wedding of colleagues Pete Hegseth and Jennifer Roche
08:41together, arriving by helicopter — not the most discreet mode of transportation, to say
08:45the least.
08:46When asked whether they were dating, Hannity refused to comment, and Earhardt flat-out
08:49denied the whole thing in a statement, reading,
08:52"'Right now, I am focused on raising my daughter. As anyone at Fox News will tell you, Sean
08:56is a wonderful person, and whomever he chooses to date will be extremely fortunate.'"
09:00Over the past four years, the couple have constantly been seen together. And in 2024,
09:04when Hannity relocated to Florida from New York, the Daily Mail quoted an inside source
09:08who spilled the tea, saying,
09:10"'Those two have always been in it for the long haul since they fell in love. Only now,
09:14the haul will be a bit longer.'"