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Rachel Marsden | |
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 Marsden in 2013 | |
| Born | (1974-12-02)December 2, 1974 (age 51) Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada |
| Occupations |
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| Website | rachelmarsden |
Rachel Marsden (born December 2, 1974) is a Canadianconservative politicalcolumnist and television commentator based in Paris. Her weekly column is syndicated byTribune Content Agency.[1] She has hosted talk shows onFox News andSputnik News,[2] and has written for theToronto Sun and several other major news outlets.[3] She is also a regular contributor to the English and French services of theRT news channel.[4]
Marsden grew up inPort Coquitlam, British Columbia.[5] As a high school student atTerry Fox Secondary School in 1992, Marsden received a bronzeGovernor General's Academic Medal.[6]
Marsden was inspired to go into journalism by listening to Canadian radio personalityJack Webster when she was growing up.[7] In 2002, she took a political journalism training course at theNational Journalism Center in Washington, DC.
Marsden graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree fromSimon Fraser University (SFU) with a minor in French language.[8] As an SFU student, Marsden came to public attention when she was at the centre of theSimon Fraser University 1997 harassment controversy, in which she and aswimmingcoach publicly accused each other ofsexual harassment.[9][10]The coach was dismissed, then exonerated and re-hired by the university after doubts were raised about the credibility of Marsden's accusations against him.[11][7][12] Over ten years later, Marsden was interviewed by the university's newspaper and said of the events: "[The administration] were more interested in quelling negative PR than defending the truth. I was told by SFU to keep quiet and say nothing to the media. My only regret is that I listened to them."[13]
In November 2025, Marsden stated that she was enrolled in law school.[14]
Marsden first broke into journalism in the early 2000s, writing for conservative web sites. In 2002, she worked for theFree Congress Research and Education Foundation.[15]
Before the 2004 federal election in Canada, she was hired under an alias byGurmant Grewal, a Conservative member of theParliament of Canada, to assist his constituency office with press releases, but was forced out when her identity was revealed by the press while criminal charges of harassment were pending against her.[16][7]
In 2005, she had a column atNational Post for two months.[17]Later that year she was hired by theToronto Sun as a weekly opinion columnist, and wrote for them until November 2007.[18]Her syndicated column has appeared in the online edition ofThe Daily Telegraph,[19]The Spectator,[20] andTownhall.com,[21] and reprinted inWall Street Journal[22] and theNew York Daily News.[23]In 2004 Marsden appeared as a guest onDennis Miller'sCNBC talk show.[24] In 2005 she appeared twice as a guest panelist onThe O'Reilly Factor on theFox News Channel.[25] Marsden appeared on the Fox News Channel[26] until 2007.[27]
In 2007, she moved from Toronto toNew York City[28] and was hired as one of five panelists onRed Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld,[29]a late-night talk show, where she stayed for five months.[27] On May 30, 2007, Marsden was dismissed fromRed Eye and escorted out of the Fox studio by security guards.[27] She explained that her departure was due to a change in the show's format, and that being escorted out was standard procedure.[27] She appeared once in October 2007, as a guest panelist onCNN'sThe Situation Room.[30] Marsden has been compared toAnn Coulter in opinion, presentation and appearance.[31][32]
In 2009 Marsden moved to France, and since then she has been a regular panelist onLCP Politique Matin, carried on the state-owned parliamentary television channelLa Chaîne parlementaire in France.[33] She taught courses atSciences Po asenseignante, or adjunct member of the teaching staff.[34]
In November 2011, she self-published a novel,American Bombshell: A Tale of Domestic and International Invasion[35] throughCreatespace.
In 1997 Marsden came to public attention for her role in theSimon Fraser University 1997 harassment controversy.[5]
In 2002, Marsden was arrested after a man she'd been dating for a year complained to police of being harassed and threatened by her.[36] She pleaded guilty to criminal harassment and was given a conditional discharge and one year of probation.[37]
In September 2007, a relationship between Marsden and anOntario Provincial Police officer ended. She posted his photo and identified him on herblog as an anti-terrorism officer and wrote he had leaked secret anti-terrorism documents to her.[38] The officer filed a complaint of harassment against Marsden, but this was later dropped. The OPP launched a separate internal investigation into the alleged conduct of the officer. His lawyer declared that he was cleared of any wrongdoing.[5][28][39]
Marsden contacted Wikipedia co-founderJimmy Wales in 2006 and said that her Wikipedia biography waslibelous. Wales stated his involvement with her article was handled through the normal channels, and was "routine". He also says he "recused [himself] from any further official action", after their relationship became personal.[40][41]On February 29, 2008, theGawker news and gossip blogValleywag claimed Wales and Marsden had entered into a relationship, and published instant messaging chats they allegedly exchanged.[42] On the following day, Wales announced on his Wikipedia user page that he had broken up with her. Marsden, who learned about the breakup by reading about it on Wikipedia, turned toeBay and put up a T-shirt and sweater for auction that she said belonged to Wales.[10][41][39][43][44]
[Const. Tony] Backhurst [. . .] acknowledges a brief love affair with Marsden two years ago – not one that continued until nearly three months ago, as Marsden maintains. [. . .] Marsden grew up in Port Coquitlam, B.C., and was enrolled at Simon Fraser in 1995 when she accused swimming coach Liam Donnelly of sexual harassment over a 16-month period and date rape. [. . .] Donnelly was fired. Two months later, he was exonerated, paid compensation and rehired, and the university president resigned over mishandling the case. [. . .] .
She moved to New York in early 2007. . . . An internal investigation cleared Backhurst of wrongdoing, says [Backhurst's lawyer Andrew McKay]. . . .
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