Highly educated, successful, and very good at her job (although she became a subject of backlash following her comments on Jane Fonda, that’s by the way), Megyn Kelly is surely the goal for a lot of American women in the field of journalism.
Having graduated from college in 1992 (she attended Syracuse University) with a degree in political science, Megyn earned a Juris Doctor from Albany Law School in 1995 and began her career working as an associate for law firm Bickel & Brewer LLP, in their Chicago office (Kelly is an Illinois native).
After over a decade of experience in corporate law, Kelly shifted her interest towards journalism beginning in 2003 with ABC affiliate WJLA-TV in Washington DC. The reason for the career switch? Kelly once revealed that she felt unsatisfied with the law firm job.
A year later, Kelly began attracting media giants like CNN. She got employed at Fox News in 2004 and immediately scored her own legal segment, Kelly’s Court during Weekend Live.
Subsequently, she landed her own show – America Live which ran from 2010 till when she left for maternity leave in 2013, and then The Kelly File which broke the rating record to compete with flagship programs like the O’Reilly Factor.
After 13 years at Fox, Megyn joined NBC in early 2017. At NBC, Kelly anchors Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly, her own daytime talk show Megyn Kelly Today and also contributes to the network’s major political news coverage.
Megyn Kelly Salary, Net Worth
Kelly has worked her way to become one of the highest-paid TV hosts in America. Her salary became a topic of much discussion following her hop from Fox News Channel to NBC News as it was believed that the major reason she was changing ships was as a result of pay.
While it was reported that Fox offered to pay her even more, to remain with them (at least $20 million to equal what disgraced anchor Bill O’Reilly was taking home and a $5 million leap from the $15 million she earned in 2016) NBC seemed to have surpassed their offer, thus attracting Kelly on to their side.
After she switched sides, many pegged her new salary at $17 million, but as the year progressed more details surfaced and her figures were estimated to fall between $20 and $23 million. Her contract with NBC was revealed to be worth $23 million per year for 3 years.
“While I will greatly miss my colleagues at Fox, I am delighted to be joining the NBC News family and taking on a new challenge,” Kelly said after joining NBC.
Despite the switch, there was no love lost between her and Fox who also released a statement wishing her well in her endeavors.
“We thank Megyn Kelly for her 12 years of contributions to FOX News. We hope she enjoys tremendous success in her career and wishes her and her family all the best,” Fox News’ chief executive Rupert Murdoch said in a statement.
After the sacking of Today Show co-host Matt Lauer due to sexual misconduct in late 2017, Kelly became the highest-paid NBC host. Lauer was earning between $20 and $25 million. She would still be NBC’s highest-paid if she was earning the $18 million Fortune pegs her earnings at.
A greater part of Kelly’s earnings stem from her job as a news anchor, however, she was paid a hefty multi-million dollar advance for her book Settle For More in early 2016.
Megyn Kelly’s net worth is estimated to fall between $10 million and $20 million.
Megyn Kelly’s Husband, Children, Family
Kelly has been married twice in her lifetime. Her first marriage came in 2001 to an anesthesiologist, Daniel Kendall. The pair had met in a Chicago street festival in 1997 and tied the knot 18 days after the 9/11 attacks.
However, their marriage was short-lived as they divorced in 2006. Daniel Kendall gave an exclusive interview to Daily Mail where he revealed that their marriage crumbled due to Kelly’s busy schedule as she had just switched careers from an attorney to a journalist.
Kelly, on the other hand, has revealed that part of the reason was that she wasn’t ready to have kids. Kendall later married a certain Emily and with her, has three children.
Two years after the divorce, Kelly married her second husband Douglas Brunt, a full-time novelist whom she had met on a blind date in 2006.
However, at the time of their marriage, Brunt was president and CEO of the cybersecurity firm Authentium. He founded the firm in 2001 and sold it in 2011.
A Philadelphia native and graduate of Duke University, Brunt has published a number of New York Times best-selling books including Ghosts of Manhattan.
Kelly’s first marriage produced no children, however, she has three children with Brunt. Their first child Edward Yates Brunt was born on September 25, 2009. He is named after his two grandfathers.
Their second child, daughter Yardley was born on April 14, 2011, while their third child and second son Thatcher was born on July 23, 2013.
According to People, one of the reasons Kelly switched from Fox to NBC was her kids.
