Megyn Kelly

One of the best known political journalists working for the Fox News network, Megyn Kelly was born in Syracuse, NY in 1970. After earning her bachelor's in political science from Syracuse University, Kelly went on to attend Albany Law School, where she graduated in 1995. She would then spend over a decade in the law field, notably working for firms Bickel & Brewer and Jones Day. When she made the switch to journalism, Kelly began honing her skills as a general assignment reporter for ABC affiliate WJLA-TV in Washington D.C. She was hired by Fox News the following year and began writing and appearing in segments for "The O'Reilly Factor" (Fox News, 1996-) "Weekend Live" (Fox News, 2002-) and "Special Report with Brit Hume" (Fox News, 1996-). Her own series, "America Live" (Fox News, 2010-2013) would come in 2010. After taking a short break for maternity leave, Kelly reemerged with a new series in 2013, "The Kelly File" (Fox News, 2013-17). Meanwhile, Kelly would continue to impress viewers and ruffle the feathers of thin-skinned politicians, famously upsetting then-candidate Donald Trump, who sought softer treatment from her following her moderation of a 2015 Republican Debate. A group of Trump's supporters were so outraged that they began leaving one star reviews on the Amazon listing for Kelly's memoir Settle for More, which were easy to identify as the plan was publicly discussed by the supporters on the site Reddit, and Kelly's book had not yet actually been released to the public. The skirmishes with the future president increased Kelly's public profile, as did her admission that she had been sexually harassed by former Fox News head Roger Ailes in her book. In January 2017, Kelly scored a high-profile new gig when she was hired by NBC News, with plans for her to host a daytime show replacing the third hour of "Today" (NBC 1952- ) and a new Sunday-evening newsmagazine show beginning in the fall of that year. Unfortunately, "Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly" (NBC 2017) was quietly canceled after eight low-rated episodes, but not after receiving criticism for an interview with political conspiracy theorist Alex Jones that critics said normalized his extreme views, such as claiming that the Sandy Hook gun massacre never happened. The newly titled "Megyn Kelly Today" (NBC 2017-18) premiered in September 2017, but quickly lost over 25% of the audience of the hour's previous incarnation. The show was already reportedly on thin ice when in late October 2018, Kelly said during a roundtable discussion on appropriate Halloween costumes that she didn't understand what was wrong with dressing in blackface as part of a Halloween costume. Also Kelly apologized to her co-workers in a companywide memo that afternoon and to her viewers at the top of the next morning's show, that incident ended "Megyn Kelly Today." Kelly was officially let go by NBC on October 26, 2018, after the show aired repeats for the remainder of its final week.