Mika Brzezinski is a popular name in American journalism, having worked in the field for over two decades most notably with MSNBC and CBS. She hails from a family with a rich political history. Brzezinski’s career received a huge leap after she became the Ground Zero reporter for CBS during their coverage of the 9/11 attacks. In recent years, she can be seen hosting MSNBC’s morning news program Morning Joe alongside Joe Scarborough.
Mika Brzezinski Biography
Mika Emilie Leonia Brzezinski was born on May 2, 1967, in New York City. Her father Zbigniew Brzezinski of Polish descent was a famous political figure who was a foreign policy expert and served as the National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter. He worked with a total of three Democratic presidents including Lyndon B. Johnson and John F. Kennedy. Zbigniew Brzezinski passed away in May 2017.
Mika’s mother a sculptor, Emilie Anna Benešová was born in Sweeden and has Czech roots. She was known for her gigantic wooden works. As of when Mika was born to her parents, her father Zbig whom Mika and her two brothers called Chief taught at Columbia University.
As a kid, young Mika occasionally accompanied her dad to events in the White House. One can’t help but speculate that those trips influenced Mika’s passion for journalism.
Both brothers Mark and Ian were also influenced by their father’s political activities. While Mark worked in the George W. Bush administration and served as the nation’s ambassador to Sweden from 2011 to 2015, Ian a military expert served in the Obama administration.
Mika earned her BA in English from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts in 1989. Immediately, she kicked off her journalism career, starting as an assistant at ABC’s World News This Morning. Mika quickly advanced within the next 7 years working in Hartford, Connecticut for Fox affiliate WTIC-TV, and CBS affiliate WFSB-TV. By 1995, she became a weekday morning anchor at the latter.
Mika, in 1997 became a correspondent for CBS News where she also hosted the overnight news program, Up to the Minute. In between her CBS job, Mika briefly worked on MSNBC as the co-anchor of the weekday afternoon show, HomePage.
The big break of her career came when she returned to CBS News to serve as the principal “Ground Zero” reporter for the 9/11 attacks. For years, she continued at CBS News as a segment anchor, correspondent, and substitute anchor working on programs like 60 Minutes and CBS Sunday Morning.
Her stint with CBS ended with a firing, after which, she rejoined MSNBC where she occasionally anchored Weekend Today. Right before she was about to renew her contract to continue with the show, fellow MSNBC employee Joe Scarborough in early 2007, offered her the role of co-host in his show Morning Joe which was formed as a replacement for a similar morning news talk show. She accepted, joining him and Willie Geist as the co-hosts.
Atypical of journalists, Mika has had her fair share of controversies from purposefully refusing to read news about Hollywood celebrities to engaging in a Twitter brawl with Donald Trump who called her “low I.Q. Crazy Mika.”
Husband and Relationship With Joe Scarborough
Mika Brzezinski was married to investigative reporter Jim Hoffer from 1993 to 2016. Together they had two daughters namely Carlie and Emilie. While Mika was still married to Hoffer, rumors began to swirl that she was having an affair with her Morning Joe co-host Joe Scarborough, but they both denied it.
So when the news of her divorce got out in 2016, the rumors couldn’t seem truer. Their undeniable chemistry on-set has led to their romance being dubbed as the worst-kept secret in TV.
Her divorce was completely shrouded in secrecy with the details hidden from the media. It was, however, revealed to be mutual and amicable. In June 2016, Page Six reported that Mike and Hoffer had reached a settlement.
About a year later, in May 2017 it was reported that Mika and Joe Scarborough were engaged to be married. Not many people were surprised. In a statement to Vanity Fair, Mika said she could no longer hide her feelings anymore. “Over the past year and a half, I realized I had to face these feelings and that it was time to stop putting them in a box,” she said.
While her marriage to Joe would be her second, Joe, on the other hand, has been previously married twice. First to Melanie Hinton from 1986 to 1999 and to Susan Waren from 2001 to 2013. He had two sons with the former and a daughter and a son with the latter.
