Megyn Marie Kelly, formerly known as Megyn Kendall is an eminent American news anchor, journalist and former attorney. She is currently serving as a political commentator on Fox News channel. Megyn also hosts the show “The Kelly File” from the New York City headquarters of Fox News Channel. In her glorious career, she has been the part of several shows, which includes “America Live”, “America’s Newsroom “etc. Apart from this, she has also hosted two New Year eve special programs on Fox News Channel.
Early Life and background
Megyn Kelly was born on 18th November, 1970 in Syracuse, New York. Her father, Edward Kelly, an Irish, was a teacher of Education at the State University of New York at Albany. Her mother, Linda, an Italian, was a homemaker. When Megyn was nine years old, her family shifted to Albany, New York. She lost her father when she was just 15 years old
She studied in Tecumseh Elementary School and Bethlehem Central High School. After completing her high school education, she joined the Syracuse University and obtained an undergraduate degree in Political Science. In the year 1995, she earned a J.D. from Albany Law School
Career
Kelly served as an associate in the Chicago branch of the law firm “Bickel & Brewer LLP”. It was during this period, Kelly co-wrote an article called “The Conflicting Roles of Lawyer as Director” in a journal named “Litigation” for the American Bar Association. Later she joined “Jones Day” and served the law firm for 9 years.
Kelly shifted her base to Washington D.C in the year 2003 and joined the WJLA-TV, an affiliate of ABC. While working for this channel, Kelly has covered many important national and local events such as 2004 Presidential Election, the death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist and many more. In the year 2004, Kelly joined the Fox News Channel. She has been a part of several shows of the channel which includes “Special Report with Brit Hume”, “The O’Reilly Factor”, “On the Record”, “Red Eye w/Greg Gutfeld”etc. On 1st February 2010, Kelly started to host her own show “America Live”.
Megyn received media attention when she covered the 2012 United States Presidential Election. In March 2016, the Fox Channel announced that Kelly will host a prime time special show of one hour. The show will air in May 2016.
Megyn Kelly signed a book deal with the HarperCollins Publisher on February 2016. Her talent has also won her a place in 2014 Time list of 100 most influential women. She has also graced the magazine cover of February 2016 edition of “Vanity Fare”.
Controversies
Megyn Kelly once made controversial remark on the skin color of Santa Claus and Jesus Christ. Her comment received huge criticism from media.
Megyn Kelly – Husband
On 29th September, 2001 Kelly married Daniel Kendall, an anesthesiologist, but they got divorced in the year 2006.
Later, on 1st March 2006, Kelly got married to Douglas Brunt, the President and CEO of Authentium. The couple has three children.
Megyn Kelly – Net Worth and Salary
Megyn Kelly’s base salary is $270,000, making her annual package to $9 million. She is one of the highest paid celebrities on TV. Reports have stated that the talented anchor and debate expert had may leave Fox News Channel if she gets a lucrative offer from a rival channel .
She expected a salary of $18 million annually on the lines of what Bill O’Reilly is getting for Fox News. It sounds like a fair deal because Megyn Kelly is one of the brightest faces of Fox News, and is instrumental in making the news channel, the brand that it is.
On January 3, 2016, Megyn Kelly announced on Facebook that she was leaving Fox News for NBC. She thanked her colleagues, seniors and FNC audience for helping her understand what really mattered. She also threw light on her responsibilities for NBC which includes starting her own daytime news show on weekdays and an evening news show for Sunday. One of the programs is ‘Sunday Evening with Megyn Kelly’ first episode of which was aired on June 4, 2017 and had her interviewing Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Megyn Kelly’s salary for NBC is between $16 million and $20 million. On October 28, 2018, NBC asked Megyn Kelly to quit the show with her $69 million dollar package. This was in reaction to her comment supporting the ‘blackface’ for Halloween costumes. Blackface is a traditional theatrical makeup used on non-white actors to look like blacks. While it was popular in the 90th century, the term ‘Blackface’ is criticized for creating racial stereotypes.
Megyn Kelly Book – Less is More
The news anchor also released her autobiography called ‘Settle for More‘ which carries expose on her boss Roger Ailes, her feuds with Donald Trump and her rise in media.