This disgraced Fox Business host is no stranger to controversy, as several of her on-air comments
have sparked outrage and backlash.
Beyond the headlines, there's much about the veteran broadcaster that even her most devoted
viewers may not know.
This is the untold truth of Trish Regan.
Former beauty queen
Prior to entering broadcasting, Trish Regan competed in beauty pageants, and proved she
had what it took to win when she was crowned Miss New Hampshire in 1993.
Competing in pageants is about more than just looking pretty, she told New Hampshire Magazine,
adding,
"You have to be able to relate to lots of different people you have to be able to think
on your feet and those are skills you learn in a pageant.
Walking in high heels and a swimsuit is a skill unto itself.
And one I don't miss."
While Miss New Hampshire, Regan vied to become Miss America.
Although she didn't win, she did receive a special award for an operatic performance.
Singing, in fact, is another of her talents, honed by studying voice at the New England
Conservatory of Music.
In 2018, Regan showcased her vocal abilities by airing a video of herself singing the U.S.
national anthem during an episode of Trish Regan Primetime.
Work/life balance
In addition to her role as a TV news anchor, Regan is also a wife and mother of three,
and she's admitted it can be tough to strike the right work-life balance.
In an interview with Serendipity, Regan shared some small steps she takes "to try to make
it all work."
One of those, she revealed, was to bring one of her children to work with her each Friday,
in addition to trying to have one of them accompany her when she has to travel for business.
She told the magazine,
"I'm not going to sugarcoat it.
It is a constant challenge."
She also said she tries to FaceTime with her kids before she goes on the air, and joked
that, quote, "they've really gotten to know their way around a newsroom."
Regan revealed that one of her daughters even assisted her when she covered a State of the
Union address, saying,
"[My daughter was] so excited she helped out by printing my research, reading every bit
of it herself, and then drilling me on it!
It was a win-win."
A proud New Englander
Born and raised in New Hampshire, New England holds a special place in Regan's heart.
She demonstrated that when she shared her top five New England travel destinations for
Luxury Travel magazine.
Among those destinations is Kennebunkport, Maine, where she spent summers waiting and
bussing tables as a teenager.
She also singled out the Ocean House resort in Watch Hill, Rhode Island, gushing about,
quote, "a quaint little town complete with a beautifully preserved historic carousel
for the kids."
Not surprisingly, one of her favorite New England vacation spots is in her home state.
Omni Mount Washington Resort in the heart of New Hampshire's White Mountains which Regan
describes as the "Switzerland of America."
Megyn's replacement?
While Regan made a mark at a number of different cable news outlets, her career really took
off at Fox Business.
In January 2017, Business Insider reported that she was being "personally prepared" by
Fox News' then-head honcho Roger Ailes to replace Megyn Kelly, who had just left the
network to take an ultimately disastrous job hosting the third hour of NBC's Today show.
According to Business Insider, Regan was seen as a "top contender" to fill Kelly's primetime
9 p.m. time slot.
However, Ailes was no longer running the network, having resigned in mid-2016 after being hit
with numerous sexual misconduct allegations.
Sources told the outlet that if Ailes was still running Fox News at the time of Kelly's
departure, Regan would "undoubtedly" be the frontrunner to replace Kelly.
While the conventional wisdom at the time held that the network would almost certainly
put a female anchor in Kelly's time slot, Fox News ultimately took a different path
and instead plugged Tucker Carlson Tonight into Kelly's vacant time slot.
Denmark claps back
A 2018 episode of Trish Regan's Fox Business show led to some serious criticism when controversial
comments she made raised the ire of an entire country.
In the segment, B-roll footage of chaos in the streets of Venezuela played while Regan
told viewers that what they were seeing was the end result of socialism.
She then segued into attacking socialism in Denmark.
Pointing to a top tax rate of 56 percent, Regan declared that, quote, "everyone in Denmark
is working for the government," claiming the country has "stripped people of their opportunities."
Denmark's finance minister, Kristian Jensen, was not impressed, taking to Twitter to tell
Regan she should visit his country to learn the truth.
Speaking with the New York Times, Jensen explained that Denmark ranks 12th in economic freedom,
while Venezuela ranks 179th, and blasted Regan's Denmark dissing as, quote, "simply egregious."
Regan felt enough backlash that during a subsequent edition of her show she told viewers she wanted
to clarify her point, insisting she wasn't comparing Denmark to Venezuela.
Regan just wanted viewers to know that, quote, "socialism is not the way."
Wait, Trish said what?
The backlash Regan experienced with "Denmarkgate" was nothing compared to the tsunami of criticism
she received when she shared her thoughts on the coronavirus in March 2020.
Regan stretched the limits of reality to the breaking point, declaring that Democrats were
blaming President Donald Trump, quote, "for a virus that originated halfway around the
world."
This is yet another attempt to impeach the president, and sadly it seems they care very
little for any of the destruction they are leaving in their wake."
It wasn't just viewers who were furious over Regan's coronavirus comments.
Healthcare professionals and DC lawmakers were also outraged.
Washington Congresswoman Kim Schrier told Salon,
"This is the height of irresponsibility.
This should not be a political issue."
Fellow conservative Sean Hannity, however, predictably leaped to Regan's defense.
During his radio show, the Fox News host attacked what he called "the mob in the media," and
blasted, quote, "fake news CNN blaming Trump for the surge in toilet paper buying."
Out at Fox
The backlash to Regan's coronavirus rant was severe.
Days after the segment aired, Fox Business issued a terse statement that Trish Regan
Primetime had immediately been placed "on hiatus until further notice," with other programming
airing in its place.
The network claimed that the reason for pulling the show off the air was to meet "the demands
of the evolving pandemic crisis coverage."
A few days after that announcement, the Washington Post reported that Regan's "hiatus" looked
to be permanent.
Given that President Trump had declared the pandemic to be a national emergency the same
day that Regan was benched, the Post noticed a major shift in tone at Fox News and its
sister network, Fox Business.
No longer was reporting of COVID-19's spread throughout the U.S. described as an "impeachment
hoax," but as a serious health crisis affecting every American.
The following week, the Daily Beast reported that Regan had been let go by the network.
Fox Business said in a statement confirming her exit,
"We thank her for her contributions to the network over the years and wish her continued
success in her future endeavors."
The outlet also ran Regan's response, which stated, in part, that she "now intend[s] to
focus on [her] family during these troubled times," and is "looking forward to this next
chapter in [her] career."
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