Ainsley Earhardt, a long-time anchor at Fox News, has been a top personality for many years. She has built a loyal fanbase with her polished persona and all-American charm. Viewers have affectionately nicknamed her the media’s “Barbie.” However, despite her put-together appearance, life behind the scenes hasn’t been picture-perfect for the “Fox & Friends” host.
Earhardt joined “Fox & Friends” in 2016, a decade after starting her journey at Fox News. Over the years, she’s built a reputation as a conservative darling, even receiving a personal endorsement from Donald Trump when she released her book, “The Light Within Me,” in 2018. “Ainsley Earnhardt, a truly great person, just wrote a wonderful book … which is doing really well. She is very special and so is her new book…bring it to number one!” he tweeted at the time. Earhardt’s rise to fame might seem inevitable, but journalism wasn’t her first plan. She once had her sights set on acting, and when that fizzled out, she took a detour into orthodontics, of all things, before realizing her true calling: a career that combined cameras and crowds. She pivoted to journalism in college and hustled her way from local stations to CBS affiliates and eventually to Fox News. “All I could think was how did I get here?” she noted in her book, notes Elle. “It had to be God.”
But while Earhardt’s career trajectory has been nothing short of impressive, her personal life has been a little more complicated. From two divorces, one of which played out in the public eye, to the heartbreak of a miscarriage after a long time of trying to conceive, Earhardt’s real-life struggles are anything but made-for-TV.
She has been divorced twice
Ainsley Earhardt and Sean Hannity’s rumored romance may have sparked plenty of buzz, but what some fans might not know is that, much like Hannity, Earhardt has been married twice before. Her first marriage was to her college sweetheart, Kevin McKinney, with whom she tied the knot in 2005. They eventually called it quits in 2009, with rumors claiming that it was because of a third party, though both parties kept mum on the details.
Earhardt gave love another go just two years later, this time with former Clemson University star quarterback Will Proctor. The pair even welcomed a daughter in 2015, but once again, happily ever after wasn’t in the cards. A source told People that Proctor had been unfaithful with one of Earhardt’s close friends — a claim he vehemently denied. “There is not one ounce of truth to the allegations that I had an affair,” he said. Despite being the one to file for divorce, he hinted it was Earhardt’s decision to throw in the towel. “I remain focused on and committed to being the best dad, and maintaining a friendship with my wife even though she has decided to move on.”
Despite two high-profile heartbreaks, Earhardt’s still holding out hope for her perfect guy. Will that be Hannity? “I would love to find love again and I want to demonstrate a loving relationship for Hayden one day,” she told the outlet. “I know that God will put the right man in my life if that’s his will, and he’ll do it in his time.”
She had a difficult time conceiving a child
Ainsley Earhardt was all about career first, family later, throwing herself into the hustle to climb the professional ladder — only to find out that life doesn’t always follow your meticulously laid plans. While she nailed her rise to the top, there was a price. By the time she was ready to start a family, things didn’t go as smoothly as she’d hoped. “I was a planner,” she shared in “My Perfect Plan,” a White Chair film. “I had a whole life planned out — what I was going to do, how I was going to get to New York, what internships I was going to do, and what the stepping stones were going to be. But when I started trying to have children, I was not successful.”
In an essay she wrote for Women’s Health, Earhardt revealed she hadn’t felt a strong urge to have kids until her late thirties, though the dream of a big family had always been in the background — four kids, to be exact. But by the time she was determined to make that happen, the idea of four biological kids wasn’t on the table anymore. Still, she decided to go for one — except that didn’t turn out to be so easy, either. “This time in my life was a season of patience. I wanted a baby so badly, but it wasn’t working out. I began feeling really sad that we were having so much trouble conceiving,” she wrote, adding that it was especially difficult because seemingly none of her peers had the same issues. “I continuously saw pregnant ladies on the sidewalks, children on park swings, and moms pushing strollers. My professional friends were getting pregnant, and I was not.”
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When she finally got pregnant for the first time, she experienced a miscarriage
It took eight months of trying before Ainsley Earhardt and her second husband, Will Proctor, finally got the news they’d been waiting for — they were pregnant. Both were overjoyed, their prayers seemingly answered, and they were ecstatic when they heard the baby’s heartbeat during one of their initial doctor’s appointments. But by the next visit, that precious sound was gone.
“What happened next was unexpected and crushing … Was this really happening to us?” she wrote in her Women’s Health essay, adding that she tried to find peace, trusting that it was all part of God’s plan. “He took my child home to heaven where I knew he or she would be happy and positively perfect. One day we will meet again.” The aftermath was brutal, as Earhardt endured multiple surgeries to remove the unborn child. During that time, they also discovered the baby had an extra chromosome. And, after such a devastating loss, Earhardt and Proctor decided to take a break from trying to conceive — but life had other plans. Just a few months later, she found herself unexpectedly pregnant again. In November 2015, they welcomed their daughter, Hayden.
Speaking with Yahoo! Life, Earhardt shared how her miscarriage reshaped her perspective, teaching her that nothing in life is guaranteed and that every moment counts.”We just don’t know what the future holds and, God willing, we’ll all live long lives, but I just embrace every single second with [Hayden],” she said. “Embrace every single second and know that everything is a season. The good times go by quickly, but the bad times go by quickly, too.”
She had to continue working amid her mother’s death
As an open book, Ainsley Earhardt hasn’t shied away from sharing the personal challenges she’s faced, especially when it comes to her mom, Dale. In a Facebook post, she opened up about her mother’s long health battles, revealing that Dale had been fighting various illnesses for decades. “Mom was diagnosed with type-1 diabetes at 39 years old, 3 shots a day and countless finger pricks. Then, 4 years ago suffered a stroke,” Earhardt shared in March 2022. “Dad found her just in time and doctors rushed her into surgery. She is a fighter, a warrior and a woman of God.”
Though Dale initially survived the stroke, her health took a turn for the worse in the years that followed, and sadly, she passed away on October 22, 2022. Despite such a heartbreaking loss, Earhardt still appeared on “Fox & Friends” just days later. “You all probably are wondering how I can come to work today,” she told viewers (via The Wrap). “The answer is my mom would have wanted me to … She knew when I was taking a day off and would say, ‘Where are you?!”
While losing her mother was undoubtedly painful, Earhardt finds solace in her strong belief that Dale is now in a better place. “We’re just grateful we know her faith was strong,” she added. “We know where she is. She’s with Jesus. She loved the lord and taught all of us about Jesus and took us to church every single Sunday.”
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She regularly deals with public scrutiny
As a bold conservative host, Ainsley Earhardt is no stranger to stirring the pot, so it’s no shock that controversy seems to follow her. In 2020, Seth Meyers took a swipe, calling her a “self-serving hypocrite” on “Late Night” for her stance on U.S. intelligence agencies. Fellow journalist and anchor Soledad O’Brien didn’t hold back either, labeling Earhardt a “stupid blond” and a “complete, non-intelligent human being” on the Daily Beast’s “The New Abnormal” podcast. O’Brien blasted her for what she described as Fox’s “uninformed” COVID-19 vaccine coverage, going so far as to call Earhardt’s opinions “unimaginably ill-informed.”
Earhardt, for her part, claims she couldn’t care less. Criticism — whether it’s glowing or scathing — barely makes a dent in her day-to-day. She’s fully aware that she’s a target, and she’s learned not to lose sleep over it. “There are gonna be people who attack me; there are gonna be haters. They don’t know me; they don’t know my heart. I love them,” she shared with Faithwire, proving she’s unshakeable. “I’m not offended. I know God put me in this position and I know I’m gonna be attacked, so I just try to be the best person I can be. I try to be authentic and tell the truth, and if people don’t like me for that, what do you want me to be? Something that I’m not? You can always turn the channel.”