Best known as a co-host on Fox & Friends, there's much more to Ainsley Earhardt's story
than what meets the eye. Despite trying her best to serve as a source of inspiration for
her fans, she's also made a few headlines for the wrong reasons. This is the untold
truth of Ainsley Earhardt.
2018 unfortunately proved to be a difficult year for Earhardt, who watched her mother
suffer through the repercussions of a major stroke. At the same time, her six-year marriage
publicly fell apart. Her former husband, William Proctor, filed for divorce in October 2018
amid rumors that he'd been unfaithful with one of Earhardt's best friends.
While the infidelity had reportedly occurred years earlier, Page Six reports that Earhardt
allegedly possessed "evidence" of her ex-husband's alleged straying ways. In a statement at the
time, she said,
"After much prayer and careful consideration, Will and I have separated. I am fully committed
to parenting and doing what is always best for my darling, little girl and would appreciate
privacy and prayers during this difficult time."
The former couple had welcomed daughter Hayden into the world just three years earlier. For
his part, Proctor denied the cheating allegations, stating to the Daily Mail,
"There is not one ounce of truth to the allegations that I had an affair. I am devastated about
this situation and did not envision this for the future of our family. 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."
It's impressive enough to pen one best-seller, but as of 2020, Earhardt has managed to do
that three times. The author's first two forays into writing were children's books, both of
which made it onto The New York Times' best-sellers list. Publisher Simon & Schuster dubbed her
2016 picture book, Take Heart, My Chi ld: A Mother's Dream, "a lyrical lullaby" that
was full of life lessons Earhardt encouraged parents to pass onto their kids.
She went on to publish Through Your Eyes: My Child's Gift to Me the following year,
in which she, quote, "[reflected] on her experiences as a mother and viewing wonders of the world
through a child's eyes."
However, Earhardt decided to go down a different path in April 2018, when she released a memoir
called The Light Within Me, which was also a New York Times bestseller. Publisher HarperCollins
described it as:
"Filled with inspirational quotes taken from Scripture and illustrated with sixteen pages
of never-before-seen photos, her memoir is infused with her spiritual beliefs and will
touch the hearts of all her fans, reminding them to count the blessings God has given
them every day of their lives."
Ainsley Earhardt's become known for making controversial statements and asking head-scratching
questions. For example, Media Matters for America notes that the TV journalist tried
to find a silver lining regarding the United States' declining birth rate while reporting
on Alabama's controversial abortion ban in May 2019, asking,
"Will we see the numbers go up because more people won't be able to have access to abortions?"
Earhardt has typically managed to make numerous headlines with her opinions in any given month.
In June 2019, she criticized House Democrats for passing the Dream and Promise Act to protect
DACA recipients, saying,
"Why do you think that Democrats are trying to pass things or pass legislation that they
know is going to fail in the Senate?"
She also declared that President Donald Trump's negotiation tactics were, quote, "amazing,"
and argued that former Vice President Joe Biden was wrong in slamming major corporations
for receiving tax breaks. She asked on Fox & Friends,
"Listen, when you create 300,000 jobs, so what if you get a tax break? That's great.
We want you to come to New York. Remember when Amazon was supposed to come here, and
then it was squashed by all these lawmakers? It's ridiculous."
If there's one aspect of Earhardt's life that's informed all others, it's her faith. In an
op-ed written for Fox News in 2018, she revealed that it was one of the first things she sought
out when she left her home state of South Carolina. She explained,
"When I moved to New York City, I started visiting different congregations immediately.
I was used to worshiping every Sunday morning and that was one tradition I wasn't giving
up."
However, finding the right congregation wasn't enough. Admitting that she began meeting up
with co-workers to discuss the Bible in her apartment, she added,
"I was craving more, intense teaching. I wanted to find a Bible study with a small group of
women. [...] That was about 10 years ago and we have since studied so many books of the
Bible and different subjects. We have shared prayer requests, happy milestones, sad events,
and been there for one another."
In June 2019, she shared on social media,
"Every day is a gift and an opportunity to follow where Christ is leading. Don't miss
a step!"
In May 2019, Earhardt spoke candidly about suffering a miscarriage in an emotional, tear-filled
video for I Am Second. When she faced the camera during the non-profit's "White Chair
Film" series, she opened up about her struggles with pregnancy, what it was like to lose her
first child, and the role her faith played. She explained,
"I was a planner. I had a whole life planned out. When I started trying to have children,
I was not successful."
While Earhardt eventually became pregnant, she sadly received shattering news during
her second ultrasound.
"She put the wand in that area and there was no heartbeat."
That's when the doubts set in. She admitted,
"I started thinking, 'Should I have done this earlier? Is this my fault? What's going on?'"
"We had just prayed for a healthy baby."
However, just a few months later, she became pregnant again and later gave birth to a healthy
daughter in 2015. The proud mom concluded,
"Know that God has a plan and God works it all out. Life is such a journey. Every step
of it, good or bad, is still beautiful."
While Earhardt has called New York City home for over a decade, she's a South Carolinian
through and through. The Fox & Friends co-host grew up in the Palmetto State, attended college
at the University of South Carolina, landed her first journalism gig in her home state,
and, as she told The Charlotte Observer in 2018, missed it dearly. She confessed,
"Sometimes it's good in New York when you don't know anyone, because you can go without
your makeup and not worry about your hair and all that. But in the South, you go places
and you see people that you know and you go to a restaurant and you're gonna see three
or four families that you grew up with."
That's why South Carolina has become one of her go-to travel destinations. At the time,
Earhardt was planning a group trip with her best friends. She explained,
"We were trying to decide where we wanted to go, and we're all from South Carolina.
And we all said, 'Let's just go home.'"
Just as Earhardt was beginning to embrace her role as a single working mother, the pandemic
hit. She quickly packed up her things and moved from NYC to Long Island with her four-year-old
daughter. As The Charlotte Observer learned in April 2020, while her schedule didn't change,
her daughter's did. She was no longer going to preschool, so Earhardt did her best to
adapt. She admitted,
"Amazon has been our good friend. We keep getting packages 'cause I'm ordering crafts
and Legos."
She also admitted to relying on an au pair, and when she voiced her worries on-air that
she might lose her due to President Trump's decision to temporarily suspend immigration,
she was ridiculed. Responding to the criticism, Earhardt told The Charlotte Observer,
"I am extremely disheartened that any person or publication would criticize a single mother's
parenting decisions, especially during a time of crisis."
She added that she was doing the best she could and that she doesn't have family to
lean on for child care. At the end of the day though, she knows she's lucky. She went
on to say,
"I am blessed and grateful to have a legal resident living in my home who loves and cares
for my daughter. She has become part of our family and is very much loved."
Earhardt and William Proctor finalized their divorce in 2019 and it seems the Fox & Friends
co-host is ready to give romance another chance. As she told People magazine in October 2019,
she would, quote, "love to find love again [and to] demonstrate a loving relationship
for [her daughter] one day," but added that she had no idea when that might be. She also
admitted she "definitely would" have more children and revealed that she froze her eggs
just in case.
Now, it seems she may have found that special someone - at least according to Vanity Fair,
which reported in June 2020 that Earhardt was secretly dating fellow Fox News personality
Sean Hannity. After speaking with a number of Fox News staffers, the outlet claimed that
the pair had been seeing each other "for months." They quote one insider recalling how the pair
arrived together in a private helicopter to the August 2019 wedding of their Fox coworkers.
The source said,
"Hannity emerged from the chopper with Earhardt, and they made this grand entrance together.
People were like, 'Wow, okay.'"
Earhardt quickly denied the dating rumors through a Fox News spokesperson, saying,
"Right now I am focused on raising my daughter and I am not dating anyone. As anyone at Fox
News will tell you, Sean is a wonderful person and whomever he chooses to date will be extremely
fortunate."
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