Laura Anne Ingraham is a controversial American TV host who passes off her divisive opinions as conservative values. She was formerly the host of The Laura Ingraham Show, a nationally syndicated radio program. Since October 2017, she has been hosting ‘The Ingraham Angle’ on Fox News Channel.
In 2020, Laura promoted the use of hydroxychloroquine as treatment for Covid-19, despite doctors saying otherwise. She also criticized the stay-at-home orders of state governments and the use of face masks as a method to stop the spread of the virus.
Early Life and Education
Laura was born on June 19, 1963 in Glastonbury, Connecticut, US to James Frederick Ingraham III and Anne Caroline. She has Irish, Polish, and English ancestry.
Ingraham attended the Glastonbury High School and graduated in 1981. She then went to Dartmouth College and got her B.A. degree in 1985. Later she enrolled at the School of Law at University of Virginia and received a Juris Doctor in 1991. Over the years, she has studied Russian and Spanish languages.
She went to a Baptist church till she was 12 years old. Then she converted to become a Roman Catholic.
Career
Laura worked in the Reagan administration in the late 1980s as a speechwriter in the Domestic Policy Advisor’s department.
After finishing law school, she clerked in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, New York, for Judge Ralph K. Winter Jr. and later for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Then she landed a job as an attorney in the law firm “Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom” based in New York.
Ingraham ventured into the media industry in 1996 after she found a job as a TV host. She was the host of the show ‘Watch It!’ on MSNBC. She also worked as a commentator on CBS.
In April 2001, Laura started her own radio show ‘The Laura Ingraham Show’. It was nationally syndicated and rated as one of the top 5 radio shows in the country. The show finally ended after almost two decades in December 2018.
In 2008, she hosted a show on Fox News Channel called ‘Just In’ for a trial period of 3 weeks. In October 2017, she joined Fox News Channel as the permanent host of a new program ‘The Ingraham Angle’.
Additionally, she is the founder and editor-in-chief of the conservative American website ‘LifeZette’(launched 2015). She sold her majority stake in the company in January 2018. She also produces podcast content for the PodcastOne division of the Courtside Entertainment Group.
Controversies
- Ingraham has been referred to as ‘provocateur’ and ‘controversy generator’ by different media outlets. She is a strong supporter of Trump and a fierce critic of immigration reforms and the DREAMers Act.
- She was anti-homosexuality and viewed the gay community as being sodomites. She later changed her opinion and now is ok with same-sex civil unions, but not with same-sex marriage. Her brother Curtis, who was gay and died of AIDS, has called her a ‘monster’ under influence of her Nazi-sympathizing father.
- Her racist leanings become evident when she calls out POC athletes for voicing their political opinions, but rarely criticizes the political opinions of white athletes. She often voices her objection to the changing racial demographics in the US.
- She compared the detention facilities to boarding schools and summer camps. In 2018, she ridiculed a student who survived the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting on her TV show. Subsequently, advertisers boycotted her show.
Laura Ingraham – Family and Relationships
- Ingraham has never married. She is a single parent to three adopted children; a girl from Guatemala (Maria Caroline Ingraham), one boy from Russia (Nikolai Peter Ingraham), and another boy (Michael Dmitri Ingraham) in 2011.
- There is scant information about the relationships for Laura. As per rumors, she had allegedly dated celebrities such as Robert Torricelli and James V. Reyes.
- She successfully recovered from breast cancer in 2005.
- She has written 6 books, namely, The Hillary Trap: Looking for Power in All the Wrong Places; Shut Up & Sing: How Elites from Hollywood, Politics, and the UN Are Subverting America; Power to the People; The Obama Diaries; Of Thee I Zing; and Billionaire at the Barricades.
Laura Ingraham – Salary and Net Worth
- Ingraham has an annual salary of $15 million. Her net worth is estimated to be $40 million as of 2020. She owns a 7,869-square-foot property in McLean, Virginia. She purchased it in 2014 for $1.6 million and is currently worth over $3 million.