Megyn Kelly is one of those TV personalities who people may have never watched, but there’s hardly anyone who doesn’t know her name. After all, she built her prominent career by asking tough questions and speaking directly about controversies.
However, that very bold style, which helped her become famous, also became the reason behind her downfall. Starting her career as a lawyer, Kelly worked for almost a decade in Chicago and was successful enough to form partnerships.
Just finished signing 600 copies of my book #SettleForMore at B&N Union Sq. It comes out tomorrow! Hope you enjoy! https://t.co/RlRX45pnjv pic.twitter.com/bQgR9nllPi
— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) November 14, 2016
However, as she mentioned in her book Settle for More, Kelly was unhappy with the long hours and stress, which led her to make a change in career. That’s when in 2004, she joined Fox News as a correspondent in Washington, D.C., and quickly grew popular.
By 2010, she began hosting the afternoon show America Live, which led Fox’s daytime viewership to rise by 20%. So, with all the growth and success, Megyn Kelly moved to primetime with The Kelly File in 2013, which became one of the network’s biggest hits.
This not only led the show to be compared to The O’Reilly Factor, but also put Kelly on TIME’s list of the 100 most influential people in 2014. However, nothing came close to her biggest public moment in 2015, when, during the Republican debate, she challenged Donald Trump about his comments on women.
The exchange created headlines and sparked a long-standing debate between them, leading Kelly to confide in Frontline, how she found it rather personal and intense. “The attacks weren’t exactly on Megyn Kelly, the person. They were on Megyn Kelly, the brand, the journalist,” she said.
This never gets old!
A History of the Donald Trump-Megyn Kelly Feud
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➡️And now Megyn Kelly has recently been fired by NBC
#TrumpEffect pic.twitter.com/e7EDwU1gSE
— Jennie 🇺🇸 (@GodLovesUSA1) October 29, 2018
Eventually, in 2017, after serving Fox for more than a decade, Kelly joined NBC News, a move that ultimately marked a downturn in her career. She reportedly turned down a staggering $20 million negotiation that Fox offered for her to stay.
Later on, appearing on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Kelly explained the reason behind her leaving Fox. She admitted how she had been planning to quit for a while, with her finding prime-time cable news no longer a right fit for her, followed by Trump’s ongoing attacks.
Further, it was later revealed that NBC reportedly gave her a massive deal to host new shows, and she thus informed The New York Times, how the move felt like her true calling. “This is what I was meant to do” she reflected.
But despite the massive deal and her optimism about moving on from Fox, Megyn Kelly’s tenure at NBC proved to be difficult and career-damaging. It all began after she interviewed conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, on Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly, which was supposed to be the serious half of her NBC package.
Unfortunately, as Jones kept claiming that the Sandy Hook shooting was a government hoax, it later led Sandy Hook Promise to drop Kelly as host of the show. Later, JPMorgan reportedly pulled its commercials from NBC, and despite Kelly defending her show and comments on X, NBC was forced to cancel her show entirely, after just eight episodes in 2017.
Here is my statement regarding Sunday night’s interview: pic.twitter.com/iS2VfyLt6S
— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) June 13, 2017
Then came another controversy on her daytime show Megyn Kelly Today, where she openly discussed blackface, thus offending many viewers. This controversial conversation, although led Kelly to apologize the next day, NBC still canceled the show in 2018.
Eventually, after two canceled shows due to controversies sparked by Kelly, NBC decided to pay Kelly the remainder of her contract and let her go. But instead of feeling low, the talk show host promised TMZ, “You’ll definitely see me back on”.
Speaking with WSJ, Kelly said she felt media companies were too controlling, so she decided to “control my own editorial”. In September 2020, Kelly announced her independent company, Devil May Care Media, and soon started her own podcast, The Megyn Kelly Show.
She later partnered with SiriusXM to expand her reach and found the freedom to focus on controversial topics. including the Epstein files. However, instead of using her platform to criticize the perpetrators, Kelly instead questioned Pam Bondi’s credibility, and “dangerously [downplayed] the heinous nature of exploiting minors”, as highlighted by NCOSE.
Today, Megyn Kelly’s career looks very different from her Fox News peak. She is no longer a daily network TV anchor but runs her own platform and speaks directly to her audience.
