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Gretchen Carlson | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) Carlson in 2017 | |
| Born | Gretchen Elizabeth Carlson (1966-06-21)June 21, 1966 (age 59) |
| Education | Stanford University (BA) |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1989–present |
| Organization | Lift Our Voices |
| Known for | Advocacy against retaliation for or suppression of sexual assault and harassment claims; Champion of the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act (2022) |
| Notable credit(s) | The Saturday Early Show co-host (2002–2005) Fox and Friends co-host (2005–2013) The Real Story with Gretchen Carlson host (2013–2016) |
| Television | CBS News (2000–2005) Fox News (2005–2016) |
| Title |
|
| Movement | Me Too movement |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Website | gretchencarlson |
Gretchen Elizabeth Carlson (born June 21, 1966[2]) is an American retired broadcast journalist, writer, andtelevision personality.
Carlson was born and raised in Minnesota. A talented youth violinist, Carlson competed in a number of music contests before becoming a beauty pageant contestant. After winningMiss Minnesota in 1988, Carlson becameMiss America for 1989. She attendedStanford University and graduated in 1990.
Carlson became a television anchor, working for several local TV stations in Virginia, Ohio, and Texas before becoming a national correspondent and anchor on CBS. She hosted the Saturday edition ofThe Early Show onCBS News from 2002 to 2005. Carlson subsequently moved toFox News's morning showFox & Friends, from 2005 to 2013, andThe Real Story with Gretchen Carlson on Fox News from 2013 to 2016.
In July 2016, Carlson filed a lawsuit against then Fox News chairman and CEORoger Ailes, claiming sexual harassment.[3] Subsequently, dozens of other women also stepped forward to accuse Ailes of harassment,[4] and Ailes resigned under pressure. In September 2016 Carlson and21st Century Foxsettled the lawsuit reportedly for $20 million, and Carlson received a public apology.[5] Carlson was one of the first high-publicity cases of 2016's#MeToo movement.
In 2019 she co-foundedLift Our Voices to work towards a ban onnon-disclosure agreements (NDAs) andforced arbitration clauses in employment agreements.[6][7] In February 2022, theU.S. Congress passed the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act, a law championed by Carlson which excludes sexual assault and sexual harassment complaints fromarbitration clauses, includingretroactively. On 3 March 2022President Joe Biden signed the bill into law. On 7 December 2022 he also signed into law another bill backed by Carlson, theSpeak Out Act (S.4524).
Carlson also served as chairwoman of the board of directors of theMiss America Organization from 2018 to 2019.[8] In 2017 Carlson was named one ofTime magazine's100 Most Influential People In The World.[9] She has written two books, her memoirGetting Real, and theNew York Times bestsellerBe Fierce: Stop Harassment and Take Your Power Back.
Carlson was born inCoon Rapids,Minnesota, the daughter of Karen Barbara (née Hyllengren) and Lee Roy Carlson, one of four children.[1] Her father studied business atGustavus Adolphus College and later became owner/operator of Main Motor Sales, an automobile dealership started by her grandfather in 1919.[10][11] Carlson, whose grandfather was a minister, is ofSwedish descent through both parents.[12] One of her childhood babysitters,Michele Bachmann, was the futureRepublicancongresswoman who ran for president.[13]
In her youth, Carlson was aviolinist who performed on radio and television.[14] She studied withDorothy DeLay at theJuilliard School of Music in New York City,[15] and with Mary West of the MacPhail Center For Music in Minneapolis. Carlson performed in several competitions, such as the Stulberg International String Competition, where she was a finalist in 1982, theAmerican String Teachers Association, where she won second place in 1981 toJoshua Bell. She attendedAspen Music Festival from 1976 to 1983, and was a member of theGreater Twin Cities Youth Symphony from 1980 to 1984. Carlson graduated fromAnoka-Hennepin School District 11'sAnoka High School, where she was the 1984 valedictorian.[14]
Carlson was crowned Miss Minnesota in June 1988[15] and becameMiss America 1989 on September 10, 1988. She was the first classical violinist to win those titles.[16] Following Carlson's Miss America win, she was invited to meet PresidentRonald Reagan in theOval Office.[17][18] She made many television appearances during her year of service, including appearing onThe David Letterman Show, where he jokingly asked her out on a date.[citation needed] After Carlson's appearance as a newscaster in a sketch onBloopers and Practical Jokes withEd McMahon andDick Clark, several television agents called, eventually launching her career in broadcast television.[19]
Carlson graduated fromStanford University in 1990 with honors, where she studiedorganizational behavior.[20] She spent a study-abroad period atOxford University, studying the works ofVirginia Woolf.[20] She was a member of theKappa Kappa Gamma sorority.[21][22] Carlson planned to attend law school after Stanford and completed the LSAT exam, but instead focused on a career in broadcast journalism.[citation needed]
A year after becomingMiss America in 1989, Carlson secured a role onWRIC-TV, an ABC-affiliated television station servingRichmond, Virginia as a co-anchor on the network and political commentator.Style Weekly deemed it a coup forWRIC-TV at the time.[23] In 1992, she joinedWCPO-TV, servingCincinnati, Ohio as a media commentator and remained at the station for a period of two years.[24] She later worked atWOIO/WUAB in Cleveland, Ohio, where Carlson, along with colleague Denise Dufala, became the first women to co-anchor a primetime major-market newscast.[25]
Following her time in Cleveland, Carlson served as a weekend anchor and reporter forKXAS-TV inDallas/Fort Worth, Texas, from 1998 to 2000.[26]
Carlson moved to the national television scene as a national correspondent in 2000, and in 2002 became the co-anchor of the Saturday edition ofThe Early Show onCBS, along withRuss Mitchell.[27] During her time at the network, she frequently anchored the weekend edition of the CBS Evening News.[28]
Carlson first appeared onFox & Friends as a weekend substitute host in 2006. On September 25, 2006, after a shifting of anchors, which includedE.D. Hill moving to the 10 a.m. hour ofFox News Live, Carlson became the anchor ofFox & Friends. She co-hosted withSteve Doocy andBrian Kilmeade for almost 8 years. In 2013, Carlson admitted on Brian Kilmeade's radio show that Fox News female anchors were not allowed to wear pants. Despite dress code restrictions, Carlson was known for doing push-ups when military personnel were guests on the show. Carlson returned toFox and Friends in 2014 during aCooking With Friends segment with her children and again in 2015 to promote hermemoirGetting Real.[citation needed]
Carlson leftFox & Friends in September 2013 to anchor a one-hour daytime program,The Real Story with Gretchen Carlson, beginning in the fall of 2013, taking part of the slot opened byMegyn Kelly's move toprimetime.[29] She covered stories that supported women's rights, including an opinion piece onRobin Wright of theNetflix seriesHouse of Cards, noting her demand for the same salary asKevin Spacey.[30][31][32]
Three weeks before she was fired, she came forward in support of the assault weapons ban.[citation needed]
On January 1, 2018, Carlson was elected chairwoman of the board of directors of theMiss America Organization, a volunteer position[clarification needed].[33] Shortly after joining as chairwoman, Carlson's first major decision was to remove theswimsuit competition from thepageant, following a unanimous vote from the board of directors. Carlson's goals were to transition the pageant into "Miss America 2.0", where the swimsuit competitions would be replaced with on-stage interviews. The move aimed to follow the Me Too movement.[34]
Following internal backlash,[35] Carlson resigned from Chairwoman of the Board in June 2019.[36] Around the same time, it was announced that theMiss America brand would return toNBC.[37]
In April 2018, Carlson reached a first-look development deal withA&E Networks, under which she would host three documentary specials across its channels, such asLifetime.Gretchen Carlson: Breaking the Silence focuses on the every woman story of workplace sexual harassment and premiered on Lifetime on January 14, 2019.[38][39]
In May 2018, Carlson was a correspondent on an episode of the television documentary seriesAmerica Divided, which airs onEpix. Carlson produced her episode with Norman Lear, titled "Washington's War on Women", about sexual harassment on Capitol Hill.[40][41]
Carlson also hostedLive PD Presents: Women on Patrol andEscaping Polygamy onLifetime in 2018. In August 2019, it was announced that Carlson would host two hourlong documentaries from the "Beyond the Headlines" franchise. The first calledEscaping the NXIVM Cult: A Mother's Fight to Save Her Daughter, and the secondThe College Admissions Scandal.[citation needed]
In December 2019, Carlson wrote an opinion article inThe New York Times, stating that she still cannot disclose what happened to her due to a nondisclosure agreement, but that it was her desire to be able to do so.[42] In January 2020, Carlson announced a new television deal withBlumhouse Productions to produce a new interview style series.[43] In October 2020, it was announced that Carlson would joinPEOPLE (the TV Show!) as a special contributor.[citation needed]
In April 2021, Carlson and her life story was featured on thePBS television programFinding Your Roots in order to explore her family genealogy. It was shown through investigative and DNA research that she is a full-bloodedScandinavian-American, and that much of her family originated inSmåland,Sweden.[44]
With one bold legal filing, Carlson exposed Ailes's predatory tactics, dragged Fox News into the twenty-first century, affected Trump's presidential race, and lit the match that led to the modern-day #MeToo movement. The Ailes scandal led The New York Times to look more deeply into Bill O'Reilly, which led other Times reporters to ask around about Harvey Weinstein, and now Weinstein is behind bars and the world is at least a little bit more equitable.
On July 6, 2016, Carlson filed asexual harassment lawsuit against Fox News chairmanRoger Ailes in theSuperior Court of New Jersey and confirmed on herTwitter account that she was no longer with Fox News.[45] In her complaint, Carlson alleged that she was fired from her program for refusing Ailes's sexual advances.[45] Ailes at the time claimed the accusations were false, while the law firm representing Carlson claimed ten other women had contacted them to speak of Ailes' behavior atFox News and throughout his television career.[46]
Carlson's allegations received widespread media coverage.[47] After Carlson came forward, six more women spoke toGabriel Sherman ofNew York magazine, alleging that Ailes had sexually harassed them and that Ailes "spoke openly of expecting women to perform sexual favors in exchange for job opportunities".[48] Shortly thereafter, Carlson sat down for an interview with John Koblin ofThe New York Times, saying, "I wanted to stand up for other women who may be facing similar circumstances."[49]
As the case progressed, Carlson reached out directly to her fans, thanking them in a series ofTwitter videos[50][51] and offering her support for fellow victims of sexual harassment.[52] She also criticized Fox's attempt to force her claims to be adjudicated via closed-doormandatory arbitration rather than in court. Fox filed court papers arguing that Carlson wascompelled by her contract to adjudicate her claims in arbitration.[53] Carlson said: "Forcing victims of sexual harassment into secret arbitration proceedings is wrong, because it means nobody finds out what really happened."[53]
After Ailes resigned on July 21, 2016,[54] Carlson said she felt "relief that now I would be believed", though she also "felt angry that it took so long" for Ailes to step down.[55] Eight days later, her Fox programThe Real Story aired its final episode.
On September 6, 2016, 21st Century Fox announced that it had settled the lawsuit with Carlson for $20 million. As part of the settlement, 21st Century Fox apologized to Carlson, saying, "We sincerely regret and apologize for the fact that Gretchen was not treated with the respect and dignity that she and all of our colleagues deserve."[5]
Since her harassment complaint became public, Carlson has focused her public work to modify laws that protectpredators. In December 2017, she joined a bipartisan coalition of legislators to introduce the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act, which voids forced arbitration agreements that prevent sexual harassment survivors from getting their day in court. Carlson testified before theHouse Judiciary Committee in May, 2019. In February 2022, theU.S. Congress passed the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act, which excludes sexual assault and sexual harassment complaints from arbitration clauses, includingretroactively. The law was championed by Carlson, who was sexually harassed for many years by then Chairman and CEO of Fox News, Roger Ailes.[56][57] On March 3, 2022,President Joe Biden signed the bill into law during a ceremony where Carlson was introduced byVice President Kamala Harris. After signing the bill into law, President Biden handed the pen used to Carlson.
Carlson created the Gift of Courage Fund in 2017 and partnered with the nonprofit organizationAll In Together to create the Gretchen Carlson Leadership Initiative, (GCLI) a program meant to "bring civic leadership and advocacy training to thousands of underserved women across the country, with a special focus on empowering women who have experienced gender-based violence, discrimination, or harassment."[58] The initiative has hosted 13 community engagement workshops since its founding.[59] In 2018, Carlson's Gift of Courage Fund also supplied the grant to create the Gretchen Carlson March of Dimes Advocacy Fellows, a program that selected 20 women from across the country to become more civically involved in promoting legislation and policies benefitting women and children.[60] More recently, Carlson co-founded the non-profit organizationLift Our Voices with the mission of eradicatingarbitration clauses in employment contracts andnon-disclosure agreements (NDAs) that serve to silence women and men in the workplace.
In 2017, Carlson was named one ofTime magazine 100 Most Influential People in the World, was the recipient of theMatrix Award, and was named toVariety's Most Powerful Women of Impact list. In 2018, she received the 2018YWCA Phenomenal Woman Award and the New YorkNational Organization for Women (NOW) Women of Power and Influence Award. In 2020, Carlson received theSandra Day O'Connor Lifetime Achievement Award from the Arizona Foundation for Women. In July 2020, Carlson headlined a panel withBethenny Frankel on how global emergencies affect philanthropic priorities for Town & Country's 2020 Philanthropy Summit.
AtThe Hollywood Reporter's 2019 Women in Entertainment ceremony, Carlson spoke about her lawsuit against Fox News over sexual harassment and announced her new anti-nondisclosure agreements initiative,Lift Our Voices, (LOV) which she founded with former Fox News colleaguesJulie Roginsky andDiana Falzone.[61] The organization advocates for laws banning the use of arbitration clauses in employment contracts andconfidentiality agreements in sexual harassment settlements. The initiative focuses on NDA's solely dealing with toxic workplace environment issues like sexual harassment, not those protectingtrade secrets.[6][7]
In November 2020, lawsuits discovered byBusiness Insider found that multiple women had stated in legal filings thatMichael Bloomberg, the formerNew York City mayor and presidential candidate, fostered a toxic,fraternity-like culture at his company during the 1990s.[62] Carlson's organization LOV asked every presidential candidate to sign on to supporting Lift Our Voices in January 2020. Every candidate did except forPresident Donald J. Trump,Senator Bernie Sanders,Senator Amy Klobuchar and Bloomberg.[63] Soon thereafter, Carlson's organization wrote an op-ed inThe Des Moines Register encouraging the debate moderators in Iowa to ask the Democratic presidential candidates about their stance on NDAs.[64] The question did appear on the debate and after appearing in his first and only presidential debate, Bloomberg ended his campaign partly due to the heavy scrutiny surrounding the topic of NDAs.[65]
In 2021, Carlson and Roginsky, along withCher Scarlett, a labor activist intech, wrote an essay forThe Olympian encouragingWashington State Legislature to pass a bill Scarlett had worked with on withHouse Representative Liz Berry andSenator Karen Keiser to expand protections for workers facing unlawful conduct in the workplace, disallowing employers from enforcing NDAs in cases of discrimination, assault, and harassment.[66]
In 2019, Carlson's career atFox News was portrayed on theShowtime miniseries,The Loudest Voice. Her role as co-anchor at Fox News was depicted by actressNaomi Watts.[67] Many incidents in Carlson and Ailes' relationship were portrayed to the public for the first time, since Carlson was unable to speak directly about the events due to a confidentiality clause in the settlement between her andFox News.[68][69]
The series aired the audio recordings taken by Carlson during her time atFox News for the first time. The recordings were of various incidents at Fox where Carlson wassexually harassed by Ailes and other colleagues atFox News. The show also follows the incidents leading up to Carlson reporting the sexual harassment she received.[70]The Loudest Voice then portrayed her demotion and the events that followed her filing the internal complaint, many of which were recorded.[71] The recordings went on to play a major part in the settlement negotiations between Carlson andFox News.[72]
Bombshell, a film portraying Roger Ailes' sexual harassment of the talent while Carlson was atFox News, was released on December 13, 2019. Carlson is played byNicole Kidman, with other cast members includingMargot Robbie as Kayla Pospisil (a composite character),Charlize Theron asMegyn Kelly, andJohn Lithgow asRoger Ailes. The film follows events at Fox News in the run-up to Ailes resigning from the organization after being exposed for sexual harassment.[73]
On October 4, 1997, Carlson married sports agent and former professional baseball playerCasey Close.[74][75] They live inGreenwich, Connecticut,[76] with their two children.[12][77]
She announced onFox & Friends on June 9, 2009, and repeated onGlenn Beck's Fox News program, that her parents' car dealership had been selected for closure as part of theGeneral Motors reorganization and bankruptcy.[78][79] A year later, the MinneapolisStar Tribune reported that "It took an act of Congress, a national TV appeal and maybe a little bit of history on the owners' side, but Main Motor, the Anoka car dealership that Lee and Karen Carlson's family has owned for 91 years, will keep its General Motors dealership after all."[80]
Carlson remains an advocate of the arts from her experience as a child violinist. As a string instrumentalist in her youth, Carlson had admired cellistYo-Yo Ma, whom she eventually met when they both spoke at the 2019Dreamforce Conference in San Francisco.[81]
In 2015, Carlson released her first book,Getting Real, a memoir about her life growing up inMinnesota, her violin career,Miss America experience and television career.[82]
In 2017, Carlson released her second book,Be Fierce: Stop Harassment And Take Your Power Back. The book discussed as much of Carlson's story at Fox News as she was allowed to comment on because of the NDA she signed, but also many other stories of sexual harassment in the workplace from women who reached out to Carlson after her story became public. The profits from the book, aNew York Times bestseller, go to the Gift of Courage Fund.[83][84]
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| Awards and achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Miss America 1989 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by Katherine Killeen | Miss Minnesota 1988 | Succeeded by Susan Johnson |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |