Alison Starling-Alexander | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1973-10-28)October 28, 1973 (age 52) |
| Education | University of Florida |
| Occupations | News anchor andjournalist |
| Years active | 1995–2023 |
| Employer | WJLA-TV (August 2003 – November 22, 2023) |
| Spouse | Peter Alexander (2012–present) |
| Children | 2 |
| Parent(s) | Bruce and Dolores Starling |
Alison Starling-Alexander (born October 28, 1973) is an American former television news anchor and journalist. She was a co-anchor ofWJLA-TV's weekday 4 PM and 5PM newscasts, and an anchor semi-regularly on the noon newscast. She stepped down from the station on November 22, 2023, citing a desire to spend more time with her family.
Starling is fromOrlando, Florida.[1] She is from a military family and spent part of her childhood in theWashington D.C. metropolitan area while her father worked for theOffice of the United States Trade Representative. She later returned to DC to be a congressional intern.[2] Per a DNA test she and her husband took, she is of mostlyBritish andIrish descent.[3] Starling graduated fromUniversity of Florida in 1995. She then earned a Cultural Ambassadorial Scholarship from Rotary International to study inTours, France for six months in 1995.[4]
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Starling career began atWDEF-TV inChattanooga,Tennessee, as a reporter and anchor. She then worked for three years[5] atKIRO-TV inSeattle,Washington, where she covered theSeattle earthquake.
Starling joinedWJLA-TV in August 2003. One year later, she became co-anchor ofGood Morning Washington (5-7AM) and ABC7News at Noon. In 2005,Washingtonian named her one of the area's rising stars in local television news. On November 3, 2023, Starling announced that she would be stepping down from the station to focus more on spending time with her family. Her final newscast aired on November 22, 2023, the day before Thanksgiving.[6][7]
Starling met NBC News correspondentPeter Alexander in 2001.[8] In August 2011 they became engaged inFrance.[9] They married Saturday April 21, 2012, atop theNewseum inWashington, D.C.[10]
In February 2013, she announced her pregnancy,[11] and shared that she was having a girl.[12]
On December 11, 2014,The Washington Post noted that Starling was expecting the couple's second child.[13] The couple is raising their children Jewish.[14]
Starling's ancestry is clearly northern European, particularly Britain and Ireland. Her husband's, Peter, are Ashkenazic Jews from Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
I'm Jewish, the girls go to a Jewish preschool. One of my favorite joys is sharing Shabbat with them on Friday nights. The girls light the candles and we sing the blessings together. My wife is not Jewish but is the world's best mom and has totally embraced these traditions and I look forward to the girls being Bat Mitzvah'd one day.