The Glamorous Transformation Of CNN News Anchor Kaitlan Collins

The world of politics is an ever-changing, ever-shifting landscape that can be a challenging beat for any reporter to tackle. In today's political climate, however, it can be downright brutal and intimidating to even the most seasoned news veteran. But in this sink or swim world of political reporting, there's one young woman who rose to the top of the game through her razor sharp reporting skills, tenaciousness, and composure in the face of adversity and tough topics. Kaitlan Collins, host of CNN's "The Source,"  has proven that she is a force to be reckoned with. As CNN Network leader Chris Licht said in The Washington Post, she's "the absolute complete package." In one of the fastest rises in the ranks, the smart, savvy brunette has earned herself a reputation as a consummate professional, along with her own show at one of the top news networks in the country. Not bad for a Southern gal who cut her teeth as a celebrity gossip columnist less than a decade prior to headlining her own show.  

However, just because her ascent to news stardom was relatively fast, doesn't mean it was easy. We are talking about a woman who came onto the political circuit during the first Trump administration after all. She has seen her fair share of praise and criticism, and has weathered a few storms and scandals. Through it all, however, she remains one of the most well respected young journalists in her field. 

You can take the girl out of the South, but you can't take the South out of the girl. At least that seems to be the case for CNN's Kaitlan Collins because whether she's in New York, D.C., or overseas, this Alabama born and bred star is known for her unwavering dedication to the Crimson Tide. In fact, she can often be found yelling "Roll Tide" at Bryant-Denny Stadium in between her globetrotting assignments and show hosting duties. One of five children, Collins was born in Prattville, Alabama, in 1992. She attended Prattville High School before going on to the University of Alabama where after starting out as a chemistry major, she graduated with a degree in journalism and political science. 

As anyone from the South can tell you, Southern roots run deep, but Collins says sometimes you have to step away to realize what you've left behind. "You know, you don't really appreciate the South until you leave," she said in an interview with Garden and Gun. And what does the Alabama native miss the most? The food, of course. "In the South, everyone cooks great things for you all the time, and you take it for granted," she said. "When I'm going home for a week of gluttony, I know I have to prepare myself. One glass of sweet tea will send me over the edge these days."

Like just about every other journalist, Kaitlan Collins paid her dues before she became a household name. This dynamic CNN star got her start writing about all the buzz-worthy celebrity gossip for Tucker Carlson's conservative-leaning news website the Daily Caller in 2014. From relationships to rehab, if it was happening in Hollywood, it was covered by Collins. It wasn't long, however, before it became clear that the talented journalist was meant for bigger things. After just two years she moved from covering the lifestyles of famous celebrities to covering the lifestyles of powerful politicians in her role on the 2016 Daily Caller campaign beat. Her coverage of the race was so impressive, the news website promoted her to White House correspondent the following year.

As her career progressed over the years, Collins moved on from her first major gig, but she couldn't shake it. In fact, her affiliation with the Daily Caller has fueled the fire for left-wing detractors who point to it as cause to question her objectivity. For her part, Collins said in The Washington Post that she is "completely nonpolitical," adding, "if people surmise things, that's fine." She also credits the Daily Caller, along with her Southern upbringing, for giving her a political perspective to help her deal with former President Donald Trump's antics and attitude about the press. "I think I learned a lot from that job," Collins said.

Being a White House correspondent is a tough gig. Being a White House correspondent during Donald Trump's administration, however, was something else entirely. When the Daily Caller appointed Kaitlan Collins their White House correspondent in early 2017, she learned this firsthand. There were unprecedented moments and, being the new reporter in town, Collins had to be on her toes, watching and learning from those colleagues who had been around the political block a few times. "I think the people who explained the craziness best to me were not other correspondents or reporters but were photojournalists, who had covered multiple presidencies," Collins said in a Forbes interview, where she recounted the difficulties she and her fellow journalists faced in dealing with a president who was vocal in his disdain of the press. 

Regardless, Collins was determined to continue to do her job, and that proved to work out well for her. "I think one of the key aspects of being a good reporter, apart from knowing where the story is and what the news is, is knowing where your skills are best fit, and for me, that was Trump," she explained in Forbes. "I never even thought about not covering every minute of him." Her commitment paid off, landing Collins a guest spot that would ultimately change her career. 

In a case of hard work and sharp skills overriding tradition, her work as a Daily Caller White House correspondent earned Kaitlan Collins regular invitations to appear as a guest on top news channel CNN, something that was typically unheard of in the world of political media. "It was pretty rare for a Daily Caller reporter to be invited on CNN, and I knew that at the time and felt very grateful that they didn't care about that. They just saw me as a reporter and wanted me to come on because they thought I asked good questions in the briefings," Collins told Forbes. 

Her apparent ease at being on one of the largest news broadcasts in the world, combined with her fresh insight and willingness to work hard, caught the attention of the networks powers that be.  It was clear to Jeff Zucker, president of CNN at the time, that she possessed the "it" factor. "You could just tell there was something very special about her, even at a young age," he told The Washington Post. Maybe it was also her good Southern manners. After meeting Zucker at an event for White House correspondents, the bubbly brunette wasted no time in expressing her appreciation for the chance to appear on CNN newscasts. That fateful meeting made quite the impression: Collins scored a reporting gig with the network just one month later. Her star was officially on the rise.

From reporting the news to becoming the news, Kaitlan Collins found herself in the center of a few newsworthy scandals in 2018, following her arrival at CNN. Suddenly detractors were hauling mistakes of yesteryear back out into the daylight; like many other on-air personalities, her questionable past came back to haunt her. An insensitive article on Syrian refugees she penned for the Daily Caller in her early reporting days was resurrected, along with two anit-LGBTQ+ tweets she put out into the metaverse in 2011 while still a University of Alabama student. She later admitted per The Washington Post, "It was immature but it doesn't represent the way I feel at all. I regret it and apologize."

While she will apologize for past offenses, Collins is unapologetically fierce when doing her job, a trait that got the reporter ousted from a 2018 Rose Garden news conference held by Donald Trump after she relentlessly questioned him about Vladimir Putin and his former attorney Michael Cohen at an Oval Office photo op. She told Forbes, "I quickly became the story when they kicked me out of that event and then tried to dispute that they'd banned us." Later that year, when White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany referred to her as an "activist," Collins fired back. "It's understandable why someone who hasn't done their job — taking questions from reporters — in weeks would confuse someone else doing theirs with activism," she wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Landing a job at CNN is a dream for many journalists, and the stakes are high; the whole world is watching, so you can never not bring your "A" game. When Kaitlan Collins first arrived on the CNN White House scene in 2017, she immediately knew she wasn't at the Daily Caller anymore. "When you go on CNN and give a report from the White House, people from all walks of life are listening to you to see what's going on, and they're counting on you to know what you're talking about and to present it fairly," she told Forbes. That means leaving your ego and your politics at the door and delivering well researched, factual stories often in a short period of time, and under immense pressure. It's an intense environment, but one where Collins thrived. She was named the network's youngest chief White House correspondent in 2021.

The new role wasn't the only thing Collins had to get used to. Collins got her start diving headfirst into the chaos that was the Donald Trump team's method of operations, so she had to get used to the more traditional way President Joe Biden's administration handled things. "It's a shock to my system because I don't know anything else," she told Forbes. "All I knew was Trump, so I'm in for this whole new reality." 

Kaitlan Collins found her niche as CNN's chief White House correspondent, impressing viewers and colleagues with her direct style of reporting and her comfort on camera. So, when CNN network leader Chris Licht decided to take a shot at revamping the network's struggling morning show "New Day," he also took a shot on Collins as one of the show's anchors. "One of the great things about Kaitlan Collins was that she was not posturing for something else," he said in The Washington Post. "She was certainly not angling for anything. She was very happy doing what she was doing, and doing it well." Although the job entailed relocating to New York from Washington, the decision was a no-brainer for Collins. She told The Washington Post,"I didn't even think of saying no."  

As part of the rebranded "CNN This Morning," Collins made up one-third of a team that included former CNN personalities Don Lemon and Poppy Harlow. She balanced her co-anchoring duties in the studio with reporting from around the country, and serving as the show's chief correspondent. It was a dream job for the young, driven journalist who got to combine all the roles she enjoyed thanks to Licht. "I think Chris is doing a great job, and he's very invested, and has very good news values," Collins told The Washington Post. "And I realized that early on. If you're a reporter who cares about reporting, that's what you want."

In an interview heard 'round the world, Kaitlan Collins went head-to-head with Donald Trump in a 2023 Town Hall. This event took place just one day after a jury awarded columnist E. Jean Carroll $5 million in her sexual abuse case against Trump. Of course, that was only one of Trump's many legal troubles since his "unpeaceful" transition of power from the White House. Critics questioned CNN's decision to give a man who once referred to the network as "fake news" and who had created so much discourse a public platform, but true to form, Collins bravely took on the challenge undeterred. "It's not like he wouldn't be covered if CNN hadn't done that town hall," she said in Elle. "It's not like he wouldn't have airtime." 

The Town Hall was watched by 3.3 million viewers who tuned in to what Collins referred to on-air the following night as "a major inflection point in the Republican party's search for its next nominee and potentially the starting line for America's next presidential race," per Deadline. Cool and composed, Collins moderated in her unflappable and direct style, holding the president to task while attempting to fact check his claims in real time. And while the coverage may have caused a stir, it turned out to be a major inflection point in the upward trajectory of Collins' career, with CNN giving the reporter a prime time news show later that same year. 

With her combination of grit and grace, Kaitlan Collins has proved time and time again that she is more than just a pretty face. She is a hard-hitting journalist who can hold her own in any situation. So when she was given her own show, "The Source,"  to anchor in 2023, no one was very surprised, least of all her co-workers. "The Situation Room" host Wolf Blitzer praised his fellow CNN anchor for the respectful way she treats people, and credited her commitment to in-depth research for her success. Being thoroughly prepared for an interview is something that Collins is known for, and something that she has perfected throughout her career. "I make sure I know exactly what I'm talking about, because I know the responsibility and the weight that it carries," she told Elle. 

However, with age comes wisdom, and while she still does her homework, Collins has learned to leave some room for flexibility when talking to some of the most powerful people in the world. "Part of being a good interviewer is letting [the interview] take you wherever it wants to go and not having a set, rigid path of what you're definitely going to talk about," she said. But that doesn't mean relinquishing control of the narrative. Collins said she is quick to call "bullsh**" and to push even the most intimidating leaders to answer tough questions. That's what makes her primed for great success.

While she is quick to ask questions of some of the most important people in the world, Kaitlan Collins has yet to answer a question that many have wondered: is she romantically attached to anyone? For the most part, Collins' love life sure seems to fly under the radar. However, we do know that at one point, she was linked to pharmacist and politician Will Douglas (he ran for a seat in the Texas House District 113). Kaitlan Collins and Will Douglas are said to have first gotten together in 2015, back when she was still an up-and-coming reporter with the Daily Caller.  

But are they still an item? As of this writing, their relationship status remains a mystery. Collins' Instagram profile showcases her work, not her personal life, so there aren't any clear couple-y signs there. As for Douglas, the successful entrepreneur once shared some couple pics on his feed, but they seem to have been removed (including the since-deleted photo above). What's more, they do not follow each other on Instagram. Of course, this could all be in an effort to keep their relationship even more under wraps as their respective careers continue to grow... or they could have called it off and wiped all traces of the relationship from their socials.